Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/01/harvard-university-will-no-longer-issue-official-statements-on-public-matters-unrelated-to-its-academic-core.html
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That’s fine and all but not saying anything on events and matters that is important to its student body is just as bad. Silence and inaction can still have negative consequences. This move of trying to fly under the radar while enriching itself from their students, and offering no support in return is rather obvious.
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I assume that I’m not supposed to interpret “the university’s core function” as these guys; that would be snide.
Snark aside, while I suspect that some instances of “Oh, we have a policy of not making statements” will end up looking particularly cowardly; I strongly suspect that those will be very much worth it if the policy makes Admin STFU across the board.
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Except they didn’t really dig this hole. Right wing asshats in Congress dug the hole and threw several university Presidents in it. Yes, some of them didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late, but it’s not like they were expressing horrible viewpoints. I really don’t agree with your conclusion. At all. This is basically saying, “Oh, don’t do anything to rock the boat, even if it needs rocking and even if you’re 100% correct.” Silence on controversial issues of the day is not admirable.
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Harvard isn’t a state school, and they have billions of dollars in their endowment. They’re only doing this because Ted Cruz and J.D. Vance screaming about cancel culture and student protestors gives them the excuse to get even more conservative and authoritarian.
Also, at this point, The Atlantic is Newsmax with a monocle and a cigarette holder. Getting scammed by someone writing for the Atlantic is like getting scammed into giving money to Trump.
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Somehow I don’t think Harvard will stop being involved in public matters that do not directly affect the university’s core function. They’re just no longer going to talk about them.
Hard to see this as a good thing.
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"Give me your racists, your antisemites,
Your transphobes yearning to dictate,
The wretched speakers inflaming hatred.
Send these, the wealthy insurrectionists to me.We won’t judge."
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How they invest their fund is a political act, for one.
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It’s a university; what isn’t within its educational mission?
Apartheid? Slavery? LGBT rights? Women’s equality?
It’s own actions and history?
Harvard South Africa Fellowship Program | Harvard University Center for African Studies.
“ In the fall of 1956, Ruth Bader Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law School, where she was one of only 9 women in a class of about 500 men.[23][24] The dean of Harvard Law, Erwin Griswold, reportedly invited all the female law students to dinner at his family home and asked the female law students, including Ginsburg, “Why are you at Harvard Law School, taking the place of a man?””
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Considering that university and universe come from the same Latin word for “whole” I would think everything does but maybe this is their way of saying they’re eliminating the linguistics department.
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And it’s ridiculous to suggest that an institution as powerful as Harvard- or Stanford- has no effect on issues if they’re silent. What’s developed there, the leaders that are trained and promoted their - their endowments investment choices- hugely influential and powerful.
Silence is also a statement.
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