Though the order bars him from campus, Herms has not let it stop him from getting involved in Harvard’s affairs. And Carter has not let Herms’ past deter their partnership.

Together, the two decided to take the issue of public records access out of the courts.

“The judge recommended legislation to take the issue up,” Carter says. “This is something we’ve been in support of for a long time.”

In the summer of 2004, Carter came to Boston and met with StalCommPol to assist the group in understanding the basics of creating the legislation.

Carter suggested that Herms contact Mass. State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios ’90, D.-Cambridge, who is also the chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety. After the bill was passed along to Barrios, who introduced it to the State Senate, Representative Alice Wolf, D.-Middlesex, co-sponsored the bill in the house, along with Representative Tim Toomey, D.-Middlesex.

Wolf says that the legislation is necessary because HUPD, who are deputized by Middlesex County, can carry a gun and arrest people, and not all campus police officers have that authority.

“Police power is an awesome power, so it should not be exercised behind closed doors,” Wolf says. “They have a lot of responsibility in their hands.”

Wolf also says that Harvard has an obligation to the greater community.

“A university is not a separate kingdom,” Wolf says. “It has to relate to a community and people have to be able to get adequate information to have adequate protection.”

MORAL REASONING 5-0

University spokesman Joe Wrinn says that Harvard’s position on the current legislation is consistent with their stance in the lawsuit that is currently pending with The Crimson (See story Page A1).

The University has argued in court that increased access to police reports puts a victim’s privacy at risk.

Wrinn says the initial dismissal of The Crimson’s suit last March confirmed the University’s position that “the law as it currently stands appropriately takes into account the respect for individuals’ privacy and concerns about safety.”

The functions of the HUPD are fundamentally different from public police departments, Wrinn says. For example, they include transports to University Health Services, he says.