In Thursday's panel discussion hosted by the Edmund Lilly Safra Center for Ethics, four academics agreed that protecting diversity in higher education is important, but that universities need to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion. Opinions differed on whether the initiative conflicted with academic freedom.
Thursday's panel discussion was the latest in a series of events on civil dissent sponsored by the Safra Center and co-sponsored by the Harvard Intellectual Vitality Initiative and the College of Arts and Sciences.
The event featured Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Studies. Jeannie Suk Gersen, Professor at Harvard Law School. Amna Khalid, Professor of History at Carleton University; Stacey Hawkins, professor at Rutgers University School of Law. Christopher Robichaud, a lecturer at Harvard University's Kennedy School, moderated the discussion.
While Hawkins emerged as the lone defender of DEI efforts during the event, other panelists offered sharp criticism of the university's DEI programs.
Khalid opened the panel discussion by distinguishing between DEI principles and a unique idea she calls DEI, Inc. In it, she said, “Diversity is a customer service issue, education is a product, and students are the customer.”
“It's emphasized by the concept of harm, and the need to protect students from harm in some way. It's as if we came into the classroom desperately trying to harm them. ''Khalid said.
But Hawkins pushed back against Khalid's criticism of DEI efforts, saying it's contradictory to pursue “the operationalization and professionalization of diversity” as a goal while opposing it.
“We've wanted diversity, we've wanted equality in this country, within our institutions, for a very long time, and we haven't been able to achieve that,” she said. “And one of the problems is that there wasn't enough structure and accountability around that goal.”
“So without the structure and accountability that Jeannie and Amna and perhaps Elijah are also frustrated with, we will not be able to make meaningful progress,” Hawkins added.
Gersen countered by pointing to Harvard University's current racial statistics as evidence of increasing diversity in higher education. She said increased diversity should encourage “friction” and healthy debate, but that DEI policies are increasingly discouraging students from freely expressing their opinions in the classroom. I said that there is.
Gersen praised the DEI model adopted under former HLS Dean John F. Manning '82, who was recently named interim president of the university. Under the HLS model, the role of the DEI Office has also been expanded to include oversight of academic freedom concerns.
Gersen said that in her classroom, she often asks students to take opposing positions on legal arguments. After one such class discussion of Lawrence v. Texas, which ruled unconstitutional a Texas law criminalizing same-sex sexual intimacy, students filed a complaint with the HLS DEI office and He claimed he was harmed by having to hear arguments against overturning the law. Gersen said those complaints were quickly dismissed by HLS administrators.
“What they do in cases like this is summarily dismiss them on the grounds of academic freedom, which is not actually a violation of our school's rules, nor our anti-discrimination policy. It's not a violation, and it's not a violation of any rules.' People are bound,'' Gersen said.
That's in contrast to other schools, where similar complaints can require months of investigation, Gersen said.
Shapiro said he feels DEI efforts are leading to a culture of censorship and self-censorship, which in turn undermines academic freedom.
DEI “almost always goes wrong in the sense that it subverts the classical liberal principles of the academic mission of open inquiry and the search for truth, knowledge creation and research, and discussion of ideas and what we have,” Shapiro said. said.
Thursday's debate comes amid growing political opposition to the DEI initiative, which has escalated into a movement in state legislatures to limit it.
Meanwhile, Harvard University has been embroiled in government proceedings over its handling of campus tensions and the war in Gaza, including extensive Congressional subpoenas, an Education Department investigation, and multiple federal lawsuits. Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-Missouri), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a January letter threatening to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status that the university's DEI efforts are Criticized for excluding and suppressing dissent.
Shapiro, who co-authored a model bill restricting diversity efforts in higher education, wanted to take credit for the new law.
“I had my hands in a lot of it,” he said.
Khalid denounced the restrictions as “ideologically based” and said Congress should not be involved in the DEI debate.
“While I am highly critical of the DEI office, there is and should not be any room for legislative interference in academic matters,” Khalid said.
—Staff writer Tilly R. Robinson can be reached at tilly.robinson@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @Tilly Robin.
—Staff writer Neil H. Shah can be reached at neil.shah@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @neilhshah15.
