Harvard University: Proposed Speech Codes
Category: Free Speech, Freedom of Conscience
Schools:
Harvard University
Harvard Law School considered adopting a new racial speech guide, under the typical guise of a harassment policy. FIRE chastised this illiberal move by such an elite institution.
FIRE Letter to Harvard Law School Dean Robert Clark, November 12, 2002
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Speech Codes: Alive and Well at Colleges…
August 1, 2003
By Greg Lukianoff and Harvey Silverglate at The Chronicle of Higher Education Five years ago, a higher-education editor for The New York Times informed one of us, Harvey Silverglate, that Neil L. Rudenstine — then president of Harvard University — had insisted that Harvard did not have, much less enforce, any “speech codes.” Silverglate suggested the editor dig deeper, because virtually any undergraduate could contest the president’s claim. A mere three years earlier, the faculty of the Harvard Law School had adopted “Sexual Harassment Guidelines” targeted at “seriously offensive” speech. The guidelines were passed in response to a heated campus […]
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FIRE Letter to Harvard Law School Dean Robert Clark, November 12, 2002
November 12, 2002
November 12, 2002 Dean Robert Clark Harvard Law School Cambridge, MA 02138 Dear Dean Clark: The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (“FIRE”) is a non-profit civil liberties organization dedicated to the promotion of academic freedom, free speech, and fair procedures in American higher education. As you can see from our Board of Advisers, listed on this letterhead and on our Website (www.thefire.org), FIRE is non-partisan and enjoys the advice, support, and respect of public intellectuals, academics, journalists, and others who have in common their concern for these crucial areas of American public life. We are writing to you because […]
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