Harvard’s Dean of Speech Sanctions

By the Editorial Board

The Wall Street Journal

June 19, 2024

Free speech “does not amount to a blank check to engage in behaviors that plainly incite external actors—be it the media, alumni, donors, federal agencies, or the government—to intervene in Harvard’s affairs,” the dean wrote. Criticizing university leadership or publicizing policies that upset donors or Congressional committees, he added, is “outside the bounds of acceptable professional conduct” and may “cross a line into sanctionable violations.” Thanks, dean, for this window on the Harvard administration’s mind.

Mr. Bobo was a leading ally of former Harvard President Claudine Gay, who resigned in January amid pressure over her failure to address antisemitic protests on campus. She appointed him to his current position and his work was among the sources Ms. Gay plagiarized (and later corrected) in a 2001 article for the American Political Science Review.

As an institutional matter, Mr. Bobo’s position as a Harvard dean is especially problematic. Harvard President Emeritus Larry Summers notes that the call to censure faculty members’ comments on university affairs is “an obvious intrusion on academic freedom” and worse because of his position. Mr. Bobo “has authority over salaries, setting promotions and resource allocations,” Mr. Summers notes, and until his views are repudiated by university leadership, “academic freedom at Harvard will be in jeopardy.”

The Harvard faculty hasn’t so far embraced Mr. Bobo’s speech notions, and it will be useful if the gaffe encourages them to reread the University of Chicago free-speech principles over summer vacation. But Mr. Bobo’s broadside is a reminder that censors haven’t vanished from the top rungs of America’s supposedly elite universities.

Read the original Op-Ed by Bobo Here --> https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/6/15/bobo-faculty-speech-limits/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvard-dean-lawrence-bobo-faculty-speech-harvard-crimson-78d7cae1?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1