Harvard Legislation School College student Charged With Assaulting Pupil In Homophobic Assault | News

A Harvard Legislation Faculty scholar was arrested just after allegedly assaulting a fellow HLS scholar in a homophobic assault final month, in accordance to a Harvard College Police report.

According to the report, HLS university student Naod N. Nega approached one more pupil exterior Langdell Corridor on the afternoon of Jan. 23 and consistently punched the college student, contacting him a homophobic slur.

Nega has been charged with assault and battery for the function of intimidation — a hate crime under Massachusetts state law. He pleaded not responsible to the cost at a Jan. 27 arraignment.

Nega’s attorney, Alice L. Purple, declined a request for remark.

In accordance to the police report, a witness considered Nega to be either less than the impact of narcotics or off medication and described Nega was in possession of a baseball bat.

The law enforcement report also states that Nega, who is now on a leave of absence from HLS, was beforehand concerned in multiple incidents involving “aggressive and violent habits.”

HLS spokesperson Jeff Neal declined to remark on Nega’s present status at the university, citing privacy legal guidelines.

Cambridge Police Office spokesperson Jeremy C. Warnick wrote in an email that CPD officers served a warrant for Nega’s arrest at a community healthcare facility, wherever Nega was involuntarily transported immediately after the initial assault.

A push launch issued by CPD very last week stated a Cambridge male assaulted at minimum 5 employees members although at a neighborhood hospital. Warnick confirmed in an e-mail that the push release referenced Nega.

“The male was to begin with sectioned to a community hospital on Monday, January 23rd right after he was threatening learners on campus with a baseball bat, used racial slurs, punched a faculty college student in an unprovoked assault, and intimidated them because of their sexual orientation,” the CPD press launch reads.

At his arraignment, Nega was requested to bear procedure and evaluation at Bridgewater Condition Medical center and will return to court docket for a standing listening to on Feb. 16.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s Workplace did not reply to requests for comment.

Monica E. Monroe, HLS assistant dean for community engagement, fairness, and belonging, and Stephen L. Ball, HLS assistant dean and dean of college students, wrote in an e-mail despatched to HLS pupils approximately nine several hours just after the assault that HUPD located no “immediate threat” to campus.

“We condemn unconditionally all violence, hatred, and homophobia, and will proceed to perform to foster a campus in which customers of our Legislation Faculty and College neighborhood sense welcome, secure, and bundled,” they wrote in the e-mail.

The deans’ email referred to Nega as “an person affiliated with HLS,” even though some college students explained they have been upset with what they considered as a deficiency of specificity in the assertion.

“We have the suitable to know that it was a different scholar who was involved,” mentioned Gabrielle L. Crofford, who serves as campus advocacy chair for Lambda, an LGBTQ+ affinity group at the Legislation Faculty.

“Our point of view is that the far more vague that they are, the extra students are going to be stressed,” she extra. “And not just queer pupils, for the reason that everyone’s wanting to know, ‘Are we protected on campus ideal now?’”

“No 1 should be harmed, harassed, or discriminated towards mainly because of their sexual orientation or gender id,” wrote HLS Dean John F. Manning ’82 in a statement. “We will proceed to function to assist the legal rights and dignity of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, and to be certain that everybody feels safe and sound and welcome on our campus.”

Crofford said the assault is section of a much larger sample of homophobia on the Legislation School’s campus, citing violent threats emailed to LGBTQ+ Harvard affiliate marketers in August 2022.

A few times immediately after the assault, anti-abortion advocacy group Harvard Regulation Pupils for Everyday living hosted Notre Dame regulation professor Sherif Girgis — a outstanding opponent of very same-sex relationship. Crofford stated the occasion created her sense significantly less risk-free in the context of the assault.

Harvard Regulation Pupils for Lifestyle and Girgis did not react to requests for remark.

Neal declined to remark on criticisms of the Legislation School’s response to the assault or broader claims about homophobia on the school’s campus.

Lambda member Sean V. McDonough mentioned HLS has delivered a forum for well known conservatives, a stance they claimed is at odds with the school’s intention “to be supportive of queer learners.”

Crofford stated the climate on campus contributed to the assault.

“Someone just obtained attacked — so we really don’t need to check with concerns of, ‘What does letting homophobic assumed on campus direct to?’ This is what it sales opportunities to,” she reported. “It prospects to persons getting punched and known as slurs on our campus.”

The Regulation School hosted a assembly on Feb. 2 for pupils to focus on the assault with Monroe, Ball, and HLS Campus Basic safety.

Crofford referred to as for institutional alter at the Law Faculty in the wake of the assault.

“We want to have a tradition modify because in the long run, the tradition at HLS ideal now is not a single that safeguards and values queer college students,” Crofford said. “It’s one that safeguards and values ideas of tutorial liberty.”

—Staff writer Jo B. Lemann can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @Jo_Lemann.

—Staff author Yusuf S. Mian can be achieved at [email protected]. Stick to him on Twitter @yusuf_mian2.

—Staff author Neil H. Shah can be reached at [email protected]. Adhere to him on Twitter @neilhshah15.

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