I have some bad news for Free Press columnist Caroline Linton. While I agree with her that Harvard University’s recent censorship actions were not becoming of an academic institution, Harvard has every right to ‘force students to comply with its code’ (‘Don’t allow bullies to censor,’ Nov. 20, pg. 3). Ms. Linton states that ‘freedom of speech is in the First Amendment and it absolutely applies to Harvard University.’ However, Harvard is a private institution, and as such, can create any rules that it sees fit. Yes, it can even ‘violate’ students’ constitutional rights because those students who feel that they are being oppressed are free to withdraw from the university.
Fortunately, there is a big difference between having the right to do something and actually being right when you do it. In fact, the Supreme Court has struck down laws that banned cross burning as in violation of the First Amendment, but not too many people would say that because you can burn a cross you should go ahead and do it. Sure, Harvard University, or Boston University for that matter, can bar the publication of certain cartoons in school-sponsored papers. They could even require that students come to class dressed as chickens and address their professors as ‘Your Highness.’
However, I believe that the students of Harvard, who allegedly attend the best university in the country, have a right to an academic environment where they are free to express their beliefs and debate even the least popular opinion.
And if Harvard refuses to act like the enlightened institution it claims to be, I suggest its students form an independent paper similar to our Free Press. Because the Free Press is financially independent of the BU administration, its editors are able to exercise their First Amendment rights as they see fit, and not as some administrator, concerned about discouraging prospective students, sees fit. After all, Harvard students are still Americans and they can exercise their Constitutional freedoms just not within Harvard’s gates.
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