Word: pslm
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...original statement of demands, PSLM had requested immunity from any academic or disciplinary repercussions. Beyond a non sequitur that other universities had granted similar demands, the only justification for the request was that PSLM was acting to make Harvard “a better university”—in contrast, one assumes, to all the protests to make Harvard a worse university. In short, PSLM asked to be excused from certain academic requirements because of the rightness of its cause...
...level, such a request is misguided, because it reduces the moral force of the protests. I believe PSLM is sincerely committed to its cause, and suffering is not the only means to show sincerity. But I would guess that at least some of the 50 percent of students who find the sit-in unjustified consider a protest the University offers to supply with food, soap and other necessities to be more like Progressive Student Summer Camp—all the protest and none of the consequences. If PSLM had simply padlocked Mass. Hall and refused to reveal the combination...
...don’t want Harvard to give PSLM special privilege, but more importantly I don’t want Harvard to throw the book at those with whom its professors tend to disagree. Professors who would not make exceptions for students protesting at a local abortion clinic, or students attending a rally for Al Gore ’69, or students whose political views are not strong enough to protest anything at all, should not make the lives of PSLM members easier than necessary. Why, for instance, are students inside the building the focus of this effort? PSLM members...
...learning outside the classroom,” but ultimately that too is a fiction. We take courses on the classics to learn about the classics, and the purpose of government classes in an academic setting is to separate the study of political action from its pursuit. Describing the PSLM action as “learning”—and doling out benefits for participation—in courses devoted to subjects other than mass protests and wage policies can only mean allowing professors’ politics to replace their teaching...
...have no great desire to see the members of PSLM suffer. Those whom I know inside the building are good people and are clearly committed to a cause with which I agree in many respects. Whether or not discipline from the University is in order, they do not deserve special academic punishment from their professors for voicing their beliefs. But neither do they deserve special academic benefit for being inside a University building rather than protesting out in the Yard, or for protesting at all rather than keeping silent...