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Harvard faculty hold library ‘study-in’ demonstration in solidarity with punished pro-Palestine students
The Harvard professors took issue with the fact that student demonstrators were disciplined for holding a silent protest inside the Widener Library last month.
Around 30 Harvard professors gathered inside a university library Wednesday to hold a “study-in” protest in solidarity with pro-Palestine students who were punished for participating in a similar demonstration last month.
The group of professors, which included faculty members from Harvard’s law school, its medical school, its business school, and other departments staged their protest in the Widener Library’s Loker Reading Room, The Boston Globe reported. The “study-in” lasted about an hour. The professors who participated said they were taking a stand against Harvard’s free speech policies. These rules, they said, are being applied in a way that disproportionately impacts students with political views about the war in Gaza.
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“As professors at a place that says that reason and dissent are essential parts of its mission, we believe that the university punishing students was antithetical to its own values,” Ryan Enos, a government professor who participated in the demonstration, told the Globe.
The student “study-in,” which occurred on Sept. 21, was meant to protest Israel’s escalating military action in Lebanon. Students distributed keffiyehs and posted with messages like “IMAGINE IT HAPPENED HERE” and “ISRAEL BOMBS HARVARD PAYS,” according to The Harvard Crimson, a student newspaper. The students filled the library and displayed their posters, but remained silent. Staff took down the ID numbers of the participants, and administrators later warned that the event was a violation of Harvard’s policies.
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“Even when it is quiet, such an assembly changes a reading room from a place for individual reflection to a forum for public statements and a challenge to some users. It undermines our commitment to provide an inclusive space to all users.” Vice President for the Harvard Library Martha Whitehead said in an email to staff afterwards, according to an op-ed published in the Crimson that was written by a professor representing the co-presidents of Harvard’s Council on Academic Freedom.
In that piece, the professors objected to the university’s handling of the student protest, arguing that the student demonstrators did not interfere with normal campus activity and should not have been prohibited.
Some of the students who participated in the September protest were banned from Widener for two weeks, according to emails obtained by the Crimson. The decision to punish those students was met with more protests last week.
During the faculty demonstration Wednesday, participants wore black scarves and read texts including George Orwell’s “1984” and Harvard’s University-Wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities, the Crimson reported. They displayed signs with the words “EMBRACE DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES,” a quote from the Harvard Library’s Statement of Values. Security guards reportedly recorded the names and ID numbers of the participants.
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“The university and library administration will continue to gather information about the action that took place in Widener Library’s Loker Reading Room today before determining next steps,” Jason Newton, a Harvard spokesperson, told the Globe.
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