WASHINGTON | 30th July 2011 | ExpressBuzz: As thecontroversy over an article written
by Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy snowballed, a US civil
liberties group cautioned Harvard University on taking action against
its Summer School instructor.
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Swamy, who earned his PhD from Harvard
in 1965, penned an op-ed published July 16 in Mumbai’s DNA newspaper
that advocated denial of voting rights to non-Hindus with the goal of
stemming terrorist attacks in India.
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Following the publication of the
article, several Harvard affiliates circulated a petition calling on the
university to end its ties with Swamy. The petition has gathered 312
signatures to date and in a statement, the dean of the Summer School
said that the school “will give this matter our serious attention”.
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But in a letter to University President
Drew G. Faust, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
(FIRE), a civil liberties group with a focus on academia, said the group
is “concerned about the threat to freedom of expression” that may come
about from that attention.
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“The threat of a disciplinary
investigation of Swamy stands in sharp and unflattering contrast to this
admirable and appropriate understanding of the importance of freedom of
expression in the academic community,” Adam H. Kissel ’94, vice
president of programmes at FIRE, wrote in the letter as cited by Harvard
Crimson, the university newsletter.
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Harvard has not explicitly said that it is investigating Swamy or that it has considered such an investigation.
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Kissel wrote that an investigation of
Swamy’s article would go against Harvard’s commitment to free speech, as
outlined in the “Free Speech Guidelines” adopted by the Faculty of Arts
and Sciences in 1990.
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“If members of the Harvard community
are given to understand that Harvard might begin an investigation-with
possible disciplinary consequences-of the views they express, they
likely will self-censor,” he wrote. “This is precisely the result that a
university dedicated to intellectual freedom must seek to avoid.”
“Harvard must honour its own promises,” he told the Crimson in a phone interview.
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“Students have every right to protest
for or against ideas in article, as does Harvard, but Harvard may not
investigate or punish the expression.”
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