Two Harvard professors wrote the piece below. They go on and on about academic freedom, which misses the point entirely. This is not about free speech. It’s about civil rights violations.
From the Boston Globe:
Harvard faculty won’t cave to Trump demandsThe Ivy League presents itself as an embodiment of academic freedom and intellectual rigor, but these days its universities look tarnished and compromised. Faced with the harshest federal attacks on higher education this country has ever seen, boards of trustees at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University have in recent weeks all inked deeply problematic “deals” with the Trump administration.All eyes are now locked on Harvard University. Circumventing governing statutes and the Constitution, the Trump administration unilaterally took hostage our research and our international students, in a campaign to police thought and suppress speech both on our campus and at schools across the country. Many thus see Harvard’s choices as a bellwether for not only American colleges and universities but democracy itself.While Harvard decision-makers have rejected some of the Trump administration’s demands they have also quietly instituted others. All the while they have steadily negotiated with President Trump toward an eventual deal. This has yielded weeks of breathless speculation across our campus and the world: Will Harvard lead, staying the principled course it set when it sued the federal government in April, or will it follow other universities and break under the onslaught?This myopic focus on the university’s administration ignores a truth fundamental to the future of American higher education: Salvation does not and cannot lie in the hands of the Harvard Corporation — the university’s secretive, self-appointed governing board made up of financiers and power players. Universities are much more than the individuals who come to campus a few times a year to review high-level operations.The role of faculty is fundamental. We are the teachers, researchers, and writers who have committed our professional lives to learning and free inquiry, working together with students to advance truth with rigor, independence, and integrity for the collective benefit of society. That commitment means that, unlike our distant governing boards, we will not give up so easily — no matter what kind of deals are signed in our name.
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