The Harvard administration may be trying to crack down on “privilege” at their top-notch, Ivy League school, but Harvard faculty are fighting back. Monday, 12 members of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences issued a scathing rebuke of the new “gender-neutral” policy.
Two weeks ago, Harvard’s Dean of Students announced a crackdown on single-gender clubs, including sororities and fraternities and Harvard’s “finals clubs,” private organizations that are unaffiliated with Harvard. Students who stay members of such groups will be left out of contention for leadership posts in Harvard-affiliated clubs and for major scholarship, including the Rhodes scholarship.
The policy met with immediate contention — single-gender clubs demanded freedom, campus feminists demanded only one gender be punished for its crimes — and public skepticism, but this marks the first time members of Harvard’s faculty have spoken openly and officially against the new policy. The group of 12 professors includes a former Dean of the College and professors spanning the curriculum from computer science to classics.
The profs note that students have a “civil right to free assembly,” and if Harvard isn’t affiliated with the clubs, Harvard can’t disadvantage students who belong to them. Citing Harvard’s protection of things like ROTC — and former attempts by Harvard administration to rein in “finals clubs” — the professors note that Harvard would be creating an untenable precedent regarding Harvard’s control over students’ lives.
The faculty, who said they were not briefed before the new “privilege” policy was drafted, will still have to approve the policy before it becomes an official statement in the student handbook.
