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At Harvard, “harassment is any speech somebody doesn’t want to hear”
by Scott Gilbreath ~ February 25th, 2009
Free speech champions Harvey Silverglate and Robert Freedman are seeking election to Harvard University’s Board of Overseers. They want to Harvard to re-dedicate itself to cultivating a culture of free speech and free inquiry on campus.
Mr Silverglate says the university has adopted an agenda of narrow-minded political correctness to the detriment of academic freedom.
“They have redefined harassment to include any speech that somebody doesn’t want to hear,” he says, adding that the overseers should declare unacceptable any restrictions that limit academic freedom or curtail speech that would be protected off campus.
Having represented numerous students who have run afoul of Harvard’s Administrative (read: disciplinary) Board, he’s scathing about the process.
“It has become totally irrational, unfair, uninterested in seeking facts, and not geared to finding out the truth,” he says, noting that the board has no student representatives and doesn’t allow the accused to call witnesses. “And yet, you just never hear a word from the overseers about this utter outrage.”
Mr Freedman objects to curriculum changes that have removed broad survey courses in favour of specialised and arcane courses focusing on idiosyncratic interests of faculty.
Harvey Silverglate is co-founder of The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and Robert Freedman is a long-time FIRE supporter.
h/t: Tongue Tied 3
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February 25th, 2009 at 01:32 PM
Look for this person to be hauled before the Polite Police.
February 26th, 2009 at 11:12 AM
[...] AT HARVARD, “harassment is any speech somebody doesn’t want to hear” …. [...]
February 27th, 2009 at 09:04 PM
[...] POOR BABIES… At Harvard, “harassment is any speech somebody doesn’t want to hear” …. [...]