Berry supported Manager Katherine E. D 'Andria and Assistant Manager John P. Shaffer' at the Harvard Union.

"I have absolute confidence in them," he said. "Mrs. D'Andria is one of the finest persons I have ever met. This is a woman that has the warmest heart and [is] the most sincere woman...She fascinates me because she's hard on people but very motherly."

"I feel very badly about what's been done to Mrs. D 'Andria," Berry added. "Same with John Shaffer. I see John, I watch John, I seem him on the job. I do not sense any racism in John."

Still, Berry said he would review an incident several years ago, in which a general service worker at the Union called a Black co-worker a "nigger." The Black worker has since left Harvard. The other employee said she was issued a warning after the incident.

"Are there things we can and ought to do? Absolutely," he said. "Perhaps we should be doing more diversity training. I had months ago spoken to Dean Epps about wanting to get something going because, I don't sense tension, but I do sense that we have a diverse work force and when you do, it's probably good to be doing some of this."

"It was in the plans long before this last week," he added.

Though Berry insisted he is one of the most accessible managers at Harvard, he conceded that his warning to an employee not to keep visiting the director's office with complaints was an exception.

"In this instance, unit management's ability to react to things was breaking down," Berry said. "The person kept coming to me and I finally said, listen I'm anxious to try to help you but you need to use your local manager because you've got to give them a chance to solve the problem.