The English professor who extended the original invitation to Paulin agreed with the poet to cancel the visit, according to Enrique Corredera, director of university communications at the University of Vermont.
“They mutually came to a conclusion that it would not serve anyone’s best interest for the talk to continue,” he said.
Corredera added that his university had made its decision to cancel Paulin’s visit without regard to Harvard’s actions on the matter.
But Shapiro was dubious.
“The University of Vermont cancelled Tom Paulin’s talk based on Harvard’s precedent,” Shapiro said. “We all know Harvard is a very powerful institution.”
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—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.