Word: pauline
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...even as the University ensures that everyone can speak without fear of administrative crackdowns, it must also be mindful of what it is saying to the rest of the world. That is why the English Department was right to disinvite controversial Irish poet Tom Paulin from delivering the prestigious Morris Gray Lecture last semester. A popular poet in the United Kingdom, Paulin had recently aired virulent anti-Semitic views to the Arab press. If Paulin were a student, we hope that the University would defend his right to produce and disseminate his writing; but because Harvard would have been honoring...
...former, humorless self is resurrected... this may sound vague. Why don’t I offer an example. Recently, a friend suggested: “Do, Dump or Marry: demonstrators for peace in the wake of September 11, proponents of divestment from Israel and (my personal favorite target) Tom Paulin supporters.” It is only during instances of exigency that the sanctity of Do, Dump or Marry can be violated, that its rules may be changed. This, however, was one such instance. I immediately and passionately blurted “dump all three...
...November, the English Department invited poet Tom Paulin to Harvard to recite one of his works. Soon thereafter, however, some of Paulin’s political prescriptions including the idea that Brooklyn-born settlers in Israel’s West Bank “should be shot dead” surfaced, and the department rescinded its invitation. Speculation arose that Summers had pressured members of the department to snub Paulin. Immediately, members of the Harvard community organized on both sides of the issue. Some praised Summers for preventing a well-known anti-Semite and symbol of hate from infecting...
...Paulin, internal student agitation played a significant role in the canceling of a lecture by the vocally anti-Zionist Irish poet. But it was arguably the national coverage of the incident that gave the English department the extra push to re-extend their invitation. While never the sole determining factor, the media attention nonetheless cemented the belief that free speech itself was at stake. Harvard’s English department could not be seen to compromise on those values...
...easy enough to point out the White House’s shortsightedness, but harder to see how these prejudices pervade our own community. At Yale two weeks ago, the controversial reading by Amiri Baraka revived many of the same debates and arguments familiar to us during the Paulin debacle: one side clamored for free speech, the other for responsible speech. Yet at the root of the controversy in both instances is a more fundamental disagreement about the role and responsibility of art—its political capital apart from its aesthetic value. Many of the students who supported the right...