Harvard Law Student Attacks Gay Person With Baseball Bat

I saw that headline and thought I should look into it. Is there an epidemic of anti-gay violence at my old law school?

Just kidding. This is the Harvard Crimson story:

A Harvard Law School student was arrested after allegedly assaulting a fellow HLS student in a homophobic attack last month, according to a Harvard University Police report.

According to the report, HLS student Naod N. Nega approached another student outside Langdell Hall on the afternoon of Jan. 23 and repeatedly punched the student, calling him a homophobic slur.
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According to the police report, a witness believed Nega to be either under the influence of narcotics or off medication and reported Nega was in possession of a baseball bat.

Mr. Nega has a history:

The police report also states that Nega, who is currently on a leave of absence from HLS, was previously involved in multiple incidents involving “aggressive and violent behavior.”

He apparently is crazy and, as the police suspected, off his medications:

A press release issued by [the Cambridge Police Department] last week said a Cambridge male assaulted at least five staff members while at a local hospital. Warnick confirmed in an email that the press release referenced Nega.

So it is a sad story, but not one that tells us much about life at Harvard Law School. What Naod Nega was doing there in the first place is a mystery. The reaction to his attack was, however, easy to understand.

[Gabrielle L.] Crofford said the assault is part of a larger pattern of homophobia on the Law School’s campus, citing violent threats emailed to LGBTQ+ Harvard affiliates in August 2022.

The emails were anonymous, in all likelihood did not come from anyone associated with Harvard, and news reports do not indicate that the emails went to anyone at the law school. There is no “larger pattern of homophobia on the Law School’s campus.”

Three days after the assault, anti-abortion advocacy group Harvard Law Students for Life hosted Notre Dame law professor Sherif Girgis — a prominent opponent of same-sex marriage. Crofford said the event made her feel less safe in the context of the assault.

You can see it coming: if anyone opposes gay marriage, he is blamed for any demented attack that may be carried out against a homosexual. Can we apply the same standard to, say, James Hodgkinson?

Lambda member Sean V. McDonough said HLS has provided a forum for prominent conservatives, a stance they said is at odds with the school’s aim “to be supportive of queer students.”

Because queer students are not allowed to be conservative?

Crofford said the climate on campus contributed to the assault.

What climate? It is impossible to imagine a more welcoming attitude toward homosexuals than what prevails at Harvard.

“Someone just got attacked — so we don’t need to ask questions of, ‘What does letting homophobic thought on campus lead to?’ This is what it leads to,” she said. “It leads to people getting punched and called slurs on our campus.”

Got that? Allowing a conservative speaker leads to someone being attacked by a baseball bat wielding nut (and, apparently, five others being attacked by the same person at the hospital, although as far as we know they were not gay). And “we don’t need to ask questions.” God forbid that anyone should ask questions.

Crofford called for institutional change at the Law School in the wake of the assault.

“We need to have a culture change because ultimately, the culture at HLS right now is not one that protects and values queer students,” Crofford said. “It’s one that protects and values concepts of academic freedom.”

So there it is. You can “protect and value queer students” or you can “value concepts of academic freedom.” You can’t do both. Which only makes sense if you assume that “queer students” have the right to block any speech with which they disagree. Which is exactly what these people are saying. At America’s premier law school.

However bad you think our academic institutions are, they are actually worse.

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