Why Folks Love to Hate Harvard

[jserraglio]

Why Americans Love to Hate Harvard

DEREK C. BOK, Harvard’s president from 1971 to 1991 and again on an interim basis during the 2006-2007 academic year, faced the challenge of helping the University recover from the shattering Vietnam-era crisis that divided the campus and threatened the academic mission, culminating in the protests in the spring of 1969.

By Derek Bok
Chronicle of Higher Education
Reprinted in the current issue of Harvard Magazine

IN DECEMBER, the presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT were summoned to appear before a congressional committee. For five hours, they were subjected to withering interrogation about the response of their universities to the harassment and intimidation of Jewish students following the massacre of 1,200 people in Israel and the subsequent invasion of Gaza. In response to repeated questions about how their universities would deal with students calling for “intifada” or chanting “from the river to the sea,” the answers the presidents gave in seeking to explain the intricacies of the First Amendment provoked an angry response from several members of the committee for being too legalistic and even calls by a few for the presidents to resign.

Read more https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2024/03 ... -derek-bok

[barney]

Poor old Harvard. Always the victim.

[Belle]

And the criticism is mostly coming from academics at Harvard and elsewhere as well as former Harvard academics. Jonathon Haidt recently described the university as "corrupt". He said his son has just left school and won't be applying for either Harvard or Yale.

Good work, guys!!

[jserraglio]

And the criticism is mostly coming from academics at Harvard and elsewhere as well as former Harvard academics.

Yes, but are the self-appointed critics hailing from “elsewhere“ not, like you, from Australia??!!

his son has just left school and won't be applying for either Harvard or Yale.

Good work, guys!!

Sorry to contradict a fellow nationalist, but Harvard"s loss might not necessarily be the University of Melbourne's gain. Melbourne's open admissions policy (it has an astronomical acceptance rate of 70-80% of their native-born applicants) makes it doubly hard for international students to get in the door.

Making immigration burdensome is a blessing in disguise, ain't it?