A Harvard employee apologizes for asking a neighbor in Biracial for her neighbor if she lives in affordable housing | New

A Harvard employee apologized on Monday after a video in which she confronted a woman whose biracial daughter was playing outside her apartment – and asked the woman if she lives in a home. affordable housing – became viral during the weekend. ] In the video, posted on Facebook on July 14 by Cambridge resident Alyson Laliberte, Theresa A. Lund, general manager of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, tells Laliberte that she and her daughter are too noisy . Lund then asks Laliberte several times where she lives.

"Are you in any of the affordable units? Or are you in any of the Harvard units?" Lund asks.

Since Laliberte posted the video, she has collected over a million views. In the post, Laliberte nicknamed Lund "another Permit Patty", referring to a recent series of nationally publicized incidents in which white adults confronted or called police on black children performing daily activities like selling lemonade. Laliberte wrote on Facebook that Lund's actions were "discriminating and racist".

Lund is later apologized for the incident in a post on his personal Facebook page, writing there was "no reason" for her to have asked Laliberte if she lives in affordable housing.

"I am terribly sorry for the exchange that I had with my neighbor yesterday.What I said was inappropriate and false," Lund wrote.

Lund also wrote that she should not have spoken to Laliberte 's daughter, mentioning a moment in the video where she turned to. child and said, "You're a love, I'm sorry to fight here with your mom. She is not very nice. "Lund has since apologized to the mother-daughter pair in person, according to her post.

"I am responsible for my actions and I ask for their forgiveness for a time when I am far from my values ​​and what I expect from myself," Lund wrote.

Lund deleted his social media accounts, including Facebook. She did not respond to a request for comment.

The clip depicts Lund sitting on the sidewalk near Laliberte and his daughter. Lund complains that there are screams outside his window.

"I'm out and enjoying the afternoons with my daughter when this woman came down and asked me if I would move," Laliberte writes. "She followed me and mistreated me trying to get my information and my apartment number as if she had the right to know."

Laliberte wrote that she was particularly offended by Lund's question as to whether she lived in an affordable unit.

"Why do people think that they are literally better than others? Why does she think she has the right to get us moving?", Writes Laliberte. "J & # 39; I lived in this complex for 15 years. No one else complained about my daughter and me.

The video was widely shared on social networks, including Twitter, where Lund was nicknamed "#SidewalkSusie" and "#NaptimeNancy".

HHI director Michael J. VanRooyen commented on the video Sunday afternoon, writing in a tweet now deleted that the post does not accurately reflect Lund's character.

"Theresa Lund is an ethical, principled person and leader, and recent posts do not represent who she is, or who were. # Hhi # HHI2018," her tweet read.

VanRooyen did not respond to a request for comment.

Lund seems to have disappeared from the HHI website. Prior to her withdrawal, her page indicated that she had held administrative positions at the Graduate School of Design and the Kennedy School.

HHI is based at the School of Public Health. HSPH spokesman Todd Datz declined to comment.

– The writer Angela N. Fu can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @angelanfu.

– The writer Kristine E. Guillaume can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @krisguillaume.