Harvard board

Rick Sobey reports in your Jan. 12 edition that a group of Jewish students are suing Harvard. The students’ complaint grows out of what they claim is “rampant” antisemitism on the campus.

The complaint list a potpourri of claims, including such items as (1) hiring professors who support anti-Jewish violence and spread antisemitic propaganda, and (2) (ignoring) Jewish students’ pleas for protection. They cite former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s infamous testimony before a Congressional committee asserting that protesters’ calls for genocide do not necessarily violate Harvard’s policies.

It is important to separate constitutionally protected speech from speech that is truly unlawful. The line has been clearly drawn for decades by the United Sates Supreme Court. Speech that is merely hateful, even speech calling for genocide, is constitutionally protected. When steps are taken to implement such a program, then a line has been crossed. Adherence to this line is especially important in a context where academic freedom invites expression of even the vilest ideas.

It is, in part, to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, that I have decided to seek the support of 3,400 Harvard alumni by Jan. 31 to secure a place on the ballot for the upcoming election of members to Harvard’s Board of Overseers, the university’s second most powerful, and only elected, governing body. Alumni who feel as I do – that Harvard has failed to uphold academic freedom for decades, not only recently – should go to my website, www.harveysilverglate.com – and follow the directions for helping my candidacy.

Harvey Silverglate

Cambridge

Lloyd Austin

The American people recently learned that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to inform the White House that he was hospitalized, keeping President Biden in the dark for multiple days. The explanations coming from the Biden team have been inconsistent, opaque, and strain credulity. This is but the latest embarrassment for the Biden administration, which has had more than its fair share of them.

Austin’s failure to inform Biden raises serious concerns about his judgment, particularly amid heightened tensions in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and with our troops under repeated attacks. But Austin’s conduct wasn’t just a disturbing and dangerous dereliction of duty, it was deeply disrespectful to the president and commander in chief.

When Biden took office, he declared: “I’m not joking when I say this: If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect or talk down to someone, I promise you, I will fire you on the spot — on the spot. No ifs ands or buts. Everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity.”

It’s hard to think of anything more disrespectful or indecent than what Austin did to Biden.

When Biden entered the White House, we were told that his administration would be the most transparent in history, and that, after the tumultuous Trump years, the adults would once again be back in charge.

Today we know that nothing could be further from the truth.

Michael J. DiStefano

Jamestown, RI