Joel Shulman Ph.D.
Professor, Babson College
Ivies Flunk Decorum:
Fail Their Own Rules
I was once a proud Harvard Alumnus. No more. The sight of 31 Harvard student groups endorsing and cheering the brutal attacks of unarmed women and children has turned me against my beloved alma mater. This change may last forever. Tenets of free speech have long been a staple on college campuses. However, in the past there was always law and order. Civility and decorum were a hallmark of these heated discussions. Jewish students at Ivy campuses no longer feel safe. This needs to stop. Universities have plenty of rules in place that can address this issue; they simply need to enforce them. Differences of opinion are not a new phenomenon on college campuses. Colleges historically used public debates to “settle” opposing points of view with the “fierceness” compared to a “basketball play-off game”. Afterwards, participants would gather for a friendly beer at the pub. Nowadays, Harvard Yard has become the gathering spot for angry mobs. It has become ground zero for teary-eyed celebrants, who condemn victims and cheer burnt babies. Things have changed drastically in the two decades since I left the Kennedy School. My class, which produced a President and a Russian spy, focused almost exclusively on an upcoming Presidential election. There were no musings of wiping out another race/religion. The closest we came to “hangings” were paper “chads” in Florida. Much has changed in recent years. Jewish students are now receiving death threats at Cornell, beatings at Harvard and calls for extermination at Brown. Columbia goes a step further with a tenured Professor who writes “Awesome” when describing Hamas “Freedom Fighters As someone who has been a Professor for more than 30 years, it seems clear that Harvard and the rest of the Ivies are largely to blame. As perceived leaders in academe, they have a duty and responsibility to set high standards for others to follow. In practice, they do the opposite. They violate their own rules and set a global standard for copycat groups to mimic. They also allow parties to leverage their prestige/reputation in the name of a petition, implying institutional complicity. Colleges have a moral obligation to set rules of conduct and enforce them. Everybody has rules. But what good are rules if nobody enforces them? Harvard’s Student Handbook has plenty of rules, including (pg. 50): “will not tolerate misconduct”, “respect for dignity of others”, “kind of culture we want to see”, “a community in which every member can thrive” and penalties that “end in serious disciplinary sanctions”. Where is the enforcement? Is this the “kind of culture” Harvard wants to see? Doesn’t the chant “from the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”, violate the “respect and dignity for others” rule?
Ivies need to start imposing consequences for inappropriate behavior and follow their own Student Handbooks. A call to action is required and decorum needs to be restored. The following are a few suggestions: • Do not allow demonstrations of any sort on campus, without pre-approval. o Campuses are private property and should ban hostile demonstrations. • Require non-student visitors to register on campus. o Many protestors are not even students and should not be allowed to disrupt campus life. • Do not allow anyone to apply the University name to any petition, distribution or press release without prior, written approval. o Utilizing an Ivy name in a press release implies complicity with the institution. • Do not allow students to issue threats or aggressive behavior toward others. o No statements, demonstrations, petitions, slogans, etc. that suggest death or destruction to anyone including: all races, religions, gender preferences, and nationalities. Student violators should receive academic probation or dismissal. Non-student violators should be removed from campus. Aggressive violators should be arrested according to local laws. • International students who violate college rules should be denied resources to remain in the US or receive job support. Elite colleges are now losing millions of dollars in alumni support and being sued. They need to eliminate hate speech and faculty diatribes. No student or campus visitor should ever fear for his/her safety and hide under a desk. The Harvard/Yale debate teams began in 1892. It is time to bring back the prestige of this public forum and allow a safe, less dangerous environment. • Enforce rules with disciplinary action. o
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