Word: panelized
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Tuesday’s twin protests of a career panel that included the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) marked the best of times and the worst of times for campus activism and free speech. While the Harvard Social Forum (HSF) offered a peaceful, reasoned demonstration against perceived abuses of the agencies, another group of student hooligans attempted to disrupt the event with shameful tactics. We have one question for this latter group: How could you go so wrong...
That said, however, it should be noted that even if the proverbial Big Brother had been involved, he likely could not have done a better job of weakening the hecklers inside the panel. Because of their actions, the only people restricting free speech were opponents of CIA/DHS practices, who would not even honor speakers’ rights to give their presentations. Attempts to shut off debate, especially when coupled with outrageous behavior, will not win over additional supporters...
...time separating itself from the unrestrained behavior of the unaffiliated group. In an e-mail to members on Thursday the Harvard Republican Club mistakenly called for the Harvard Democrats to resign from the HSF because of “the HSF’s destructive demonstration during the [career panel].” In fact, HSF’s demonstration was before the event and outside of the Science Center building, where the actual panel took place. Such an oversight, however egregious, is likely to be common amongst those seeking only a superficial understanding of Tuesday’s protest?...
...student movements and protests in progressive politics. Both the Darfur Action Group and Senior Gift Plus focused upon researching and further educating the Harvard student population on an issue. Neither group sought to silence political discourse. The difference between these student movements and the protest staged before the counterterrorism panel is that the former is made up of social progressives seeking to increase political dialogue, while the latter is made up of blindly fanatical ideologues seeking to silence differing opinions...
Although the media has revealed questionable practices of intelligence services over the past few months, there are more effective methods of raising awareness than those employed by students at the panel. The disdain for intellectual and political freedom being exhibited before the panel stood in stark contrast to the protest be carried out in good taste right outside the Science Center doors. The so-called progressive student disrupters should attempt to engage in a more intellectually rigorous manner instead of staging farcical skits and rude cell-phone ringing orchestration. That students chose to rudely belittle the guest panelists...