Word: bender
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...honest disagreement about the decision and I respect the position taken by the four professors who protested against it; for on the question of freely permitting the expression of diverse or unpopular opinions I would stand squarely with them. They thought it was involved, I did not. The "Bender rule" is admirably expressed and I should hope it would always be followed in cases where the issue is one of freedom of speech. Jerome D. Greene '96 Former Secretary to the Corporation
Over the years, the policy of the College, if somewhat vague, has been of the same tone as the "Bender Rule." Only once in recent years has the College barred a speaker of unpopular views from University buildings. And the storm the incident provoked yielded a well-learned lesson for the College. The man about whom the controversy centered was the American Communist, Earl Browder...
Tremendous pressures were put on the University to keep Eisler from speaking. Incited by radio commentator Fulton Lewis Jr., a vigorous letter campaign demanded that Harvard keep Eisler from speaking. In answer to these critics, Dean Bender pleaded the College's case. "The world is full of dangerous ideas," he wrote, "and we are both naive and stupid if we believe that the way to prepare intelligent young men to face the world is to try to protect them from such ideas while they are in college. . . . If Harvard students can be corrupted by an Eisler, Harvard College had better...
Eisler was invited back in 1949, this time by the Reed Club. It was on this occasion that the Bender statement was made. The fireworks that had been expected after the meeting of the previous year never went off. Instead, the crowd listened quietly and the speech proceeded without incident...
Once formulated, the "Bender Rule" has guided College action consistently up to the present. Men of such diverse opinions as Howard Fast and Gerald L. K. Smith have been granted permission to speak. Despite attacks from the American Legion and feelings of vague uneasiness, the men in University Hall have allowed advocates of unpopular ideas to be heard. Tonight, the health and vigor of this attitude will receive new proof when Owen Lattimore speaks at the United Nations Council forum at New Lecture Hall...