Fight the Air Force

Harvard Law School’s difficult decision to allow military recruiters access to its Office of Career Services—in spite of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which discriminates against homosexuals—was a necessary but unfortunate resolution to a situation that could have severely diminished the University’s ability to carry out its mission. The Air Force’s heavy-handed threat to recommend that Harvard lose $328 million in federal funds—16 percent of the University’s yearly operating budget—left the law school between a rock and a hard place....

But while Dean of Harvard Law School Robert C. Clark’s candor in describing the difficulty he had making this choice is refreshing, the University should have challenged the Air Force’s interpretation of the federal statute in question....

Even temporarily allowing military recruiters to visit while the litigation was underway in order to keep the funding would have been preferable to capitulating without a fight. Though a legal challenge may not have ultimately succeeded, by declining to appeal the Air Force’s decision, the law school missed an opportunity to defend its values in the courtroom.

—Sept. 9, 2002

Walk Out on Apathy

Yesterday’s massive student anti-war walk-out was a necessary and productive display of dissent against a highly objectionable war. For Harvard students to leave classes and disrupt standard daily life was a necessary acknowledgement of the U.S. first strike against Iraq; the protest served as important impetus and vehicle for dialogue about the war....

Though President Bush’s initial decision to go to war is already being executed, much more remains to be decided concerning the duration and scale of the attack. Large and visible protests, such as the walkout yesterday, can and should influence such decisions. Hopefully, such popular outcries will be heeded in the minds of future presidents and policymakers, and serve to temper the dangerous precedent set by the current war....

The simplicity necessary for slogans and chants can sometimes damper the nuance of arguments, but the protest was a productive way to initiate deeper conversation. We hope people at Harvard, and around the world, will continue to pay attention to the war, consider and refine their opinions, and speak out about what they believe.

—March 21, 2003

An 82-Year Old Mistake

In late May of 1920, a secret court was created by Harvard’s president to investigate and discipline homosexual students and those who associated with them.

The group of five Harvard administrators, created to investigate the suicide of Cyril B. Wilcox, Class of 1922, was called “The Court.” The ad hoc tribunal spent the next two weeks investigating students from the College and some graduate schools—essentially prosecuting them for homosexuality....

By early June, the court expelled seven College students and told them not only to leave campus, but Cambridge as well. Three other University-affiliated men were deemed “guilty” by the court. Two were expelled from their graduate school programs, and all were blacklisted by the University’s employment office....

Such blatant homophobia and discrimination by Harvard, even in 1920, is deplorable. The existence of such a court and the prosecution of students on the basis of sexual orientation is appalling....