Downtown nightclub may face bias inquiry
City Councilor Ayanna Pressley is calling for a city agency to investigate a complaint of racial bias at a new downtown Boston nightclub after a group of African-American students and alumni from Harvard and Yale said they were denied entry or ejected from a private function last weekend because security staff members felt they would attract criminals.
Although details of the incident at the Cure Lounge on Tremont Street remain sketchy, Michael Beal, a Harvard Business School student who organized the event, wrote in a widely circulated e-mail to friends that students and alumni were turned away from the event and club security shut down the establishment last Saturday night. He said club managers complained that a large group of young black men and women standing in line would attract “local gang bangers.’’ Beal did not respond to re quests for comment last night.
Pressley said in a phone interview yesterday that she had been contacted earlier this week by several Harvard students who told her they had been denied entry to the club. Because of that, she said, she has asked the city’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing to investigate the incident.
George Regan, the chairman of a Boston public relations firm who is a spokesman for the club, denied the Cure Lounge’s management had done anything wrong. He said the club had worked out an agreement with the promoters of the function that every person who attended the two-night event on Friday and Saturday would have to show identification to prove they were affiliated with Harvard or Yale. He said that on Friday night, all of the “racially mixed’’ guests presented identification without a problem.
But on Saturday, Regan said, “There were a lot of people in line known to police and police and security circles as bad people, OK? They probably couldn’t spell the word ‘Harvard.’ ’’
He said the staff shut down the club at about 11:15 p.m. because of safety concerns when guests waiting in line did not show identification and the promoters refused to cooperate with that request. Regan denied that club staff members used the phrase “gang bangers’’ when speaking with alumni or students. The term is often used to describe members of gangs.
Beal’s e-mail accusing the club of discrimination was first reported earlier this week on the website Jezebel and in the Harvard Crimson and Yale Daily News student newspapers. In a letter sent Monday to the head of the agency that oversees city clubs, Councilor at Large Pressley cited Beal’s e-mail in requesting an investigation.
Pressley said last night that she is withholding judgment until an investigation is conducted.
“An investigation is not an accusation,’’ said Pressley, who chairs the council’s tourism committee. If discriminatory behavior was found to have occurred, she said, it would prompt “moral outrage,’’ tarnish the city’s brand, and keep tourism dollars away.
She said security personnel could have called police or removed the patrons known to authorities if they had security concerns. “I have never heard of any other Boston nightlife venue prematurely ending a private party because the mere presence of invited guests on a public sidewalk was attracting ‘local gang bangers,’ ’’ she wrote in her letter.
A Boston police spokesman said officers did not respond to the club on Saturday night.
Regan, the club spokesman, said the staff is security conscious after a shooting that occurred in the same location at a venue run by different management.
“This is not a white, black, or Hispanic issue,’’ he said. “This is a security issue.’’
Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com. 