The store owner explained that a concern for the welfare of his business was one of the factors that led him to resolve the Cole incident.

"Harvard is a good part of my income," Nini said. "I don't want to lose anybody."

Little Respect

Some students, however, think Square businesses do not give students, especially minorities, the respect they deserve.

Council Vice President Brandon C. Gregoire '95 said in the council's Sunday meeting that the Cole incident was indicative of the "lack of respect on the part of Harvard Square merchants to Harvard students."

"They forget that there are 10,000 students affiliated here, plus the thousands of tourists that come each year to see the College," Gregoire said.

Gregoire claimed he himself has been mistreated several times by Square businesses.

"I've had problems with the Tannery and Schoenhoff's Books," said Gregoire, who is Black. "It hasn't necessarily been racial. It was just harsh treatment."

The student attributes the mistreatment to his status as a student.

"It's obvious that there's different treatment of a well clad businessman and a jeans-clad Harvard student," Gregoire said.

While Gregoire discounts the racial factor, other students and faculty members claim there is a distinct prejudice in the Square.

Thomson Professor of Government Martin Luther Kilson Jr. said the Cole incident is endemic of the "two pennied neo-racism" in the Square.

"You could be a member of a faculty with ten Nobel Prizes, and when you cross the street, people will lock their cars," Kilson said.

The professor said he realizes that this "two-pennied" form of racism hardly compares to "big shot million dollar racists" like the Ku Klux Klan. But racism, small or large, must be challenged, he said.

"Every little manifestation of racism must be challenged," Kilson said.