Harvard Initiative Employee Apologizes For Asking Neighbor If She Lives In 'Affordable' Unit

An employee with a Harvard University-affiliated research center has issued an apology after she was captured on video asking a neighbor and the woman's young daughter if they lived in affordable apartments.

Theresa Lund, executive director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, told The Boston Globe on Monday that she's "terribly sorry" and her comments were "inappropriate and wrong."

Cambridge resident Alyson Laliberte says in a Facebook post that Lund had confronted her on Saturday saying that her daughter was being too loud.

Laliberte says Lund asked her apartment number, and when she refused to say, Lund asked if she lived in the "affordable units."

"It was totally discriminating and racist of her," Laliberte wrote in her post, "or maybe it was because my daughter is biracial who knows."

She has declined to comment further.

Lund told the Globe, "There was no reason for me to ask what type of unit she lives in."

With additional reporting from the WBUR Newsroom