EDITORIAL
Rejected Harvard summer teacher deserved chance to defend himself
JANUARY 07, 2012
HARVARD UNIVERSITY faculty let their aversion to hate speech blind them to the need for free speech when they voted to drop two economics courses taught by Subramanian Swamy after he wrote a newspaper opinion piece that was highly offensive to Muslims. The piece was indeed inflammatory. But if faculty members wanted to take Swamy to task, they should have done it in a less sneaky way - and let him defend himself.
Instead, Swamy, a prominent right-wing politician in India, found out about the vote from a Google alert for his name. No one told him of the brewing effort to block his return, or offered him a chance to explain the views expressed under the headline “How to Wipe Out Islamic Terror.’’
Published last summer after a terror bombing in India, his piece offered a strategy “to negate the political goals of Islamic terrorism in India’’ if Muslimas there “fail to condemn these goals and call them un-Islamic.’’ He also called for the removal of an iconic mosque on the site of a Hindu temple and suggested that “only those non-Hindus can vote if they proudly acknowledge that their ancestors are Hindus.’’
Related
1/2: Pushed out of Harvard, professor returns fire
The article created a stir in India and beyond. In the aftermath, some Harvard professors and students called for his dismissal. In response, Harvard issued the following statement: “As an institution of research and teaching, we are dedicated to the proposition that all people, regardless of color or creed, deserve equal opportunities, equal respect, and equal protection. Recent writings by Dr. Swamy therefore are distressing to many members of our community, and understandably so. It is central to the mission of a university to protect free speech, including that of Dr. Swamy and of those who disagree with him. We are ultimately stronger as a university when we maintain our commitment to the most basic freedoms that enable the robust exchange of ideas.’’
Whatever this bland statement meant, it wasn’t a guarantee that Harvard would protect unpopular views. Last month, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences took the vote essentially to fire him. Diana Eck, the comparative religion professor who introduced the motion to cancel his courses, described his views as “an open incitement to violence.’’
Swamy found out about the vote from a Google alert for his name.
Since Swamy isn’t tenured at Harvard, his critics didn’t have to go to elaborate lengths to force him out. But in an age when the number of adjunct instructors in American universities is on the rise, scholars without tenure protections must be given a chance to defend themselves.
A Harvard spokesman said that at no time in the past has anyone who wished to teach a summer course been invited to explain themselves either “positively or negatively.’’ Yet in these circumstances, this decision clearly wasn’t just a matter of whether certain summer courses should be offered. Given the worldwide controversy launched by Swamy’s op-ed, this would have been a good time to set a better precedent.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/01/07/rejected-harvard-summer-teacher-deserved-chance-defend-himself/HKEYhj2aaH8vhjw9cx59MI/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw
Rejected Harvard summer teacher deserved chance to defend himself
JANUARY 07, 2012
HARVARD UNIVERSITY faculty let their aversion to hate speech blind them to the need for free speech when they voted to drop two economics courses taught by Subramanian Swamy after he wrote a newspaper opinion piece that was highly offensive to Muslims. The piece was indeed inflammatory. But if faculty members wanted to take Swamy to task, they should have done it in a less sneaky way - and let him defend himself.
Instead, Swamy, a prominent right-wing politician in India, found out about the vote from a Google alert for his name. No one told him of the brewing effort to block his return, or offered him a chance to explain the views expressed under the headline “How to Wipe Out Islamic Terror.’’
Published last summer after a terror bombing in India, his piece offered a strategy “to negate the political goals of Islamic terrorism in India’’ if Muslimas there “fail to condemn these goals and call them un-Islamic.’’ He also called for the removal of an iconic mosque on the site of a Hindu temple and suggested that “only those non-Hindus can vote if they proudly acknowledge that their ancestors are Hindus.’’
Related
1/2: Pushed out of Harvard, professor returns fire
The article created a stir in India and beyond. In the aftermath, some Harvard professors and students called for his dismissal. In response, Harvard issued the following statement: “As an institution of research and teaching, we are dedicated to the proposition that all people, regardless of color or creed, deserve equal opportunities, equal respect, and equal protection. Recent writings by Dr. Swamy therefore are distressing to many members of our community, and understandably so. It is central to the mission of a university to protect free speech, including that of Dr. Swamy and of those who disagree with him. We are ultimately stronger as a university when we maintain our commitment to the most basic freedoms that enable the robust exchange of ideas.’’
Whatever this bland statement meant, it wasn’t a guarantee that Harvard would protect unpopular views. Last month, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences took the vote essentially to fire him. Diana Eck, the comparative religion professor who introduced the motion to cancel his courses, described his views as “an open incitement to violence.’’
Swamy found out about the vote from a Google alert for his name.
Since Swamy isn’t tenured at Harvard, his critics didn’t have to go to elaborate lengths to force him out. But in an age when the number of adjunct instructors in American universities is on the rise, scholars without tenure protections must be given a chance to defend themselves.
A Harvard spokesman said that at no time in the past has anyone who wished to teach a summer course been invited to explain themselves either “positively or negatively.’’ Yet in these circumstances, this decision clearly wasn’t just a matter of whether certain summer courses should be offered. Given the worldwide controversy launched by Swamy’s op-ed, this would have been a good time to set a better precedent.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/01/07/rejected-harvard-summer-teacher-deserved-chance-defend-himself/HKEYhj2aaH8vhjw9cx59MI/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw
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