Harvard v. Free Speech

Flunking so completely that it was graded 0

The academic free-speech advocacy group FIRE put Harvard in last place in its latest university free-speech ranking system. Harvard actually garnered a score of 0 out of 100 — the “worst score ever.” Zero means “abysmal.” Only Harvard came flunked out that spectacularly.

FIRE explained,

What’s more, granting Harvard a score of 0.00 is generous. Its actual score is -10.69, more than six standard deviations below the average and more than two standard deviations below the second-to-last school in the rankings, its Ivy League counterpart, the University of Pennsylvania. (Penn obtained an overall score of 11.13.) 

Be it noted, Harvard scored in the lowest quartile in all of the last four years — so clearly the bad press has not thawed the Ivy League school’s affinity for chilling speech.

Universities were dinged if they caved into protesters and disinvited invited speakers. Five institutions were cited for their high number of dis-invitations. Harvard distinguished itself by issuing sanctions in seven out of nine disinvitation cases — or 78% of the time.

FIRE sees Harvard’s censoriousness as so entrenched that the institution “cannot solve this problem by simply improving its speech code policies and paying lip service to supporting freedom of speech, academic freedom and open inquiry on campus.” Harvard needs to change “the culture from one of self-censorship and fear to one of self-expression and courageous conversation.”

It’s ironic that a university that touts the value of diversity doesn’t look for opinions that challenge the status quo. When they tout “diversity” they mean: conservatives need not apply.

Debra J. Saunders is a fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Please sign up for notices of future posts by clicking on the subscribe button. And feel free to leave a comment below. Go ahead. Challenge my ideas. I’ll live.