Harvard’s President Claudine Gay has rejected calls to name the university’s pro-terrorism students:
Harvard president Claudine Gay pushed back on attempts to name students who signed a letter blaming Israel for the massacres committed by Hamas amid mounting criticism of her handling of the crisis.
Gay said the Ivy League school “embraces a commitment to free expression” in a video released Thursday night — her latest attempt to quell outrage from famous Harvard alumni including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.
“That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous,” Gay said.
“We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views, but that is a far cry from endorsing them.”
She is right, of course, that students who defend and even celebrate mass murder and rape shouldn’t be punished by the university, although identifying them might be a different question. In any event, let’s hope she remembers this principle when the shoe is on the other foot. Although, to be fair, conservative students are never going to celebrate murder, rape and kidnapping.
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