Word: paulin
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...English department’s decision to re-extend its initial invitation to controversial poet Tom Paulin is a positive step toward maintaining a free and open exchange of ideas at Harvard. The invitation’s prior rescinding, under administrative and student pressure, only contributed to a climate of institutional hostility to a particular side in this political debate over Israel—a thoroughly destructive force to the health of an academic community...
...department cites free speech as their primary reason for re-inviting Paulin. While we strongly support the right to free speech, we do not believe it applies in this instance. The recent headline of the BBC claiming that Paulin had been ‘banned from Harvard’ is incorrect: he was not banned from the campus in any way. The English department chose merely to rescind an offer of official University recognition. Nothing prevents Paulin from airing his views in whatever venues he can find. This campus has seen many inflammatory and bombastic speakers throughout the years...
Official Harvard invitations should be reserved for those who can be revered by the University community—or at least those who would not violate the campus’ regulations against racial or ethnic bias. The decision to reinvite Paulin as a distinguished lecturers belies a confusion of what standards the Harvard community should uphold...
Furthermore, it seems Paulin’s views were remarkably misconstrued, yet the Staff refuses to accept it was overly quick to judge him. In April, Paulin apologized for his inflammatory comments, insisted they were taken out of context and reaffirmed that he has consistently fought racism in all forms in all places. But his political views on Israel, perhaps offensive to many, were never a fair justification for uninviting Paulin in the first place. His lecture concerns an entirely unrelated body of work as a poet. The Staff’s assertion that this particular lecture amounts...
...past week, I have witnessed many supporters of the state of Israel come out in opposition to Tom Paulin, the poet whose invitation to speak at Harvard was recently rescinded because of comments he has made in the past equating Zionists with Nazis, or saying that some Israeli settlers should be shot for their illegal occupation of Palestinian territories ( News, “Controversial Poet Will Not Give Lecture,” Nov. 13). They have berated him for his comments, saying that his invitation should be rescinded because his statements promoted violence and were potentially racist...