Grace, a third-year student at Harvard Law School and an editor for the Harvard Law Review, sent an e-mail to two fellow students Tuesday saying, “I don’t think it is that controversial of an opinion to say I think it is at least possible that African-Americans are less intelligent on a genetic level.” She also said in the e-mail that “women tend to perform less well in math due at least in part to prenatal levels of testosterone.”
One of the recipients forwarded the e-mail to the Harvard Black Law Student Association, sparking campus controversy and leading to the e-mail’s appearance in media outlets including the Boston Globe, Huffington Post and Gawker.com.
“I am deeply sorry for the pain caused by my e-mail,” Grace said in an apology e-mail Wednesday to members of the Harvard Black Law Student Association. “I never intended to cause any harm, and I am heartbroken and devastated by the harm that has ensued. I would give anything to take it back.”
“I emphatically do not believe that African-Americans are genetically inferior in any way,” she added.
The Harvard Law School administration expressed regret about the incident. Martha Minow, the dean of Harvard’s law faculty, called the incident “sad and unfortunate” in an e-mail sent to the Harvard Law School community on Thursday.
“We seek to encourage freedom of expression, but freedom of speech should be accompanied by responsibility,” Minow said.
Minow added that she has met with members of the Harvard Black Law Student Association (HBLSA). The HBLSA has been accused of “false reports” that it leaked the e-mail and encouraged unverified reports that Grace’s future employer has rescinded her job offer. After graduation, Grace plans to clerk with Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
A sociology major at Princeton, Grace worked with sociology professor Thomas Espenshade GS ’72 to examine the effects of the racial composition of freshman roommates. Her thesis, “Dorm Room Diversity: Examining the Effects of Racially Heterogeneous College Roommate Pairings,” explored the effect of these dorm relationships on students’ attitudes toward race using 2004 data from the Campus Life in America Student Survey.
Espenshade could not be reached for comment for this article.
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