CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (TND) — Harvard University announced Tuesday it will no longer comment on “issues outside its core function,” citing a desire to not become “a government.”
The decision follows a report by two university working groups which examined the impact of statements by Harvard and other universities. Working group chairs say they concluded Harvard should refrain from speaking out on an issue that does not affect its operations directly.
“The main point of the report is that the University’s leadership can and should speak out on anything relevant to the core function of the University, which is creating an environment suitable for free, open inquiry, teaching, and research,” law professor Noah Feldman said. “At the same time, the University as an institution should not make official statements on issues outside its core function."
Harvard isn’t a government. It shouldn’t have a foreign policy or a domestic policy," he continued.Feldman also noted university statements often create dissatisfaction among students and staff.
“One comment from a focus group with students that stands out in my mind is, ‘everyone gets the emails and then everyone feels bad,’" Feldman said. “We’ve come to understand just how unsatisfactory statements truly are and how far they stray from our core function as an institution of higher learning.”
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Harvard “will not be speaking on a great number of things,” philosophy professor Alison Simmons added.
The move by Harvard is similar to the University of Chicago’s Kalven Committee report, which requires the school to remain neutral out of respect for ideological diversity. A key difference, Feldman said, is Havard will continue to speak out on matters that impact its “academic values.”
Harvard faced intense backlash during the onset of the Israel-Hamas war over then-President Claudine Gay’s failure to condemn antisemitism on campus. Her noncommittal testimony before Congress on the subject preceded her decision to resign from the position.
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