Below is my column in the Hill on the hypocrisy of Harvard in yet another controversy involving a resident house dean. Gregory Davis is accused of hateful, racist messages, but, so far, it is not viewed as “untenable” by the university. His rage is righteous in the view of many.
Here is the column:
Gregory Davis is really sorry for the “disruption.” For a Harvard resident dean, one would think that he was referencing a malfunctioning fire alarm, not years of racist, hateful messages.
It is akin to Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger (D) referring to the “poor choice” of words of her endorsed candidate for attorney general, Jay Jones, when he said that he wanted to kill his political opponents and their children.
These figures reflect the cynical calculation that apologies are just background music in an age of rage — heard but not really registered.
Davis personifies the unblinking hypocrisy of Harvard. For several months, Harvard faculty have been portraying themselves as victims of political intolerance after the Trump administration sought to force the university to restore intellectual diversity in its departments. The same faculty that spent years purging conservatives and dissenters from their school hyperventilated at the notion that anyone else should object to ideological conformity.
For the record, I opposed measures directed at Harvard as inimical to free speech and academic freedom. Harvard has long been an example of the destruction of higher education in America and the lowering of academic standards to achieve far-left policies. However, Harvard is hardly worthy of sympathy, but it is not worth sacrificing the core principles of free speech to go after it.
So far, there is nothing “untenable” about House Dean Davis, who has encouraged hatred toward police, spewed racist viewpoints, and shrugged off the possible deaths of conservatives.
After President Trump contracted COVID-19 in 2020, Davis reportedly wrote, “F— that guy” and added, “I don’t — at all — blame people wishing Trump ill.” He later reposted the gif from Rocky IV where Ivan Drago says, “If he dies, he dies.”
Critics have unearthed a long string of such unhinged, violent and hateful postings by Davis. He has responded with an effective shrug, insisting that his comments were “made on social media prior to my start in the Resident Dean role.” Some have challenged that claim as a lie, insisting that his call for people to “hate police” came when he was the Interim Resident Dean of Dunster House.
Even if these statements were made entirely before Harvard selected him, they would still be damning. This was not a case where a faculty member or a house dean revealed himself as an extremist after tenure or appointment. Davis never hid his radicalism. Indeed, for Harvard, it might have been part of his attraction.
Not long before his appointment, Davis suggested that “Whiteness is a self-destructive ideology that annihilates everyone around it. By design.” As a professor of critical race theory at UCLA and “gender identity law” at Southwestern Law School, Davis has helped fuel race-based anger against conservatives and police. He has written that everyone “should ask your cop friends to quit since they’re racist and evil.” In another post, he explained how “Rioting and looting are parts of democracy just like voting and marching.”
Davis encouraged students who are “Black or otherwise of color, queer, neurodivergent (ADHD), first-generation, a public high school graduate, from a low-income background, or from urban areas” to reach out to him for advice.
Like many radicals exposed for hateful comments, Davis deleted his postings and offered a perfunctory apology. It is the type of “check-the-box” apology that is now so common. Liberals like Zohran Mamdani spent years denouncing the law enforcement and calling for defunding of police, only to offer the same shrugged apologies when he ran for mayor. None of their radical supporters believes the apology any more than their critics. The key is that it was made, and the media can now move on without causing real damage.
Davis describes himself on the school website as “a Black, queer, neurodivergent (ADHD), first-generation, public school graduate from Detroit.” He encourages students, therefore, to “feel comfortable showing off [their] whole self with [him].” That hardly seems an inviting prospect if you are one of those “evil” people who want to go into law enforcement or one of those whose deaths appear to be of little concern to him.
Still, Davis has little to fear. He hates the right groups. His rage is not dangerous but righteous.
After all, he did not offer representation to any unpopular defendant. At Harvard, that would be “untenable.”
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the bestselling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Capitalism is a demos-cratic economic philosophy based on market assessments and retained earnings from production and labor. The alternative is redistributive change schemes managed by kings and queens in dictatorial fetuses… features and provisions.
Davis is transgender and transsocial. That is queer, but is it weird or Choice… uh, choice?
Satan the devil could also appear as a man, woman or even an angel of light.
These far Left radicals are insane and are VERY DANGEROUS! They are killing our country and everything we stand for.
You are the threat.
How so? Because I believe in law and order? Because I don’t buy into all this Liberal/Leftist crap? Good luck with living in underworld.
^^^ Jeanne is a perfect response. There are two parts of speech. Speaking and listening are those two and this is what Jeanne heard. Jeanne’s hearing is valid and as valid as the speech. For this reason it may cause Jeanne’s quality of life to alter. Gregory said, evil whiteness.
Evil whiteness wants laws and evil blackness wants crime? Pain and pleasure are opposites. Public crime is good says Mr. Gregory? This faux dean should have the intelligence that he can be trans, adhd, unintelligent etc in his own space but the absence of that publicly is an absolute pleasure for most.
Crime is good, PT, and this fool is warming up to murder is good. He may incur civil penalties.
Diversitism (i.e. class-disordered ideologies). That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one. #HateLovesAbortion
so Taxpayers fund colleges to hate America?
How about we let THEM fund themselves! I am fine with Democrats hating everyone, I want EVERY Racial and Gender set aside and lawed outlawed! “hate crimes” designations are unconstitutional… You can’t have punishments and arrests based on race, gender, sexual orientation. Everyone SHOULD BE PROTECTED EQUALLY!
Hah-vahdh, once a pinnacle of education, like so many other Marxist-admiring clubs, has become a barrel of indoctrination, bigotry, intolerance and steroid-fueled hypocrisy…, and a very expensive one at that. Ve-ri-tas.
**For a moment OT**
Just watched Madmani’s address to his supporters and l suggest New Yorkers it’s time to contact S. D. Bob “Snake” Plissken. You guys are smucked!
Andrew Cuomo released an AI generated ad attacking his opponent. It is wild.
Handsy Andy, gotta love that guy. He’d infect your grandma and let her die alone while feeling up his state cop security detail. What a marvelous alternative!
And he’s still the better candidate. It’s like Edwin Edwards v David Duke: “Vote for the crook; it’s important!”
““Rioting and looting are parts of democracy just like voting and marching.”
Oh yes, and then Democrats complain about MAGA supporters being stupid rednecks, and deplorables, etc. However, if someone was looting his home, or rioting in his neighborhood, he would be on the telephone to the ” racist, evil cops” lickety-split. Meanwhile, here’s some democracy in action for you! Ain’t this such a reassuring sign that Democracy is alive and well in America!
Well said Floyd. I did notice that no one was stealing any Carhartt work boots though…. Greg
Translation- wrong doing means crime.
If there can be consequences for speaking the wrong way, then
should there be consequences for voting the wrong way?
There are consequences to voting the wrong way. Remember the open borders, closed schools and businesses, and inflation of the Biden years?
You forgot Ketanji Brown Jackson.
My bad. And KBJ has a lifetime appointment. While I don’t wish ill for her, I do hope that she chooses to retire sooner than later.
Why, it is more than her shriveled raisin DEI brain can handle. A SCJ that can’t define a woman…just consider that for a moment. A SCJ that’s so ignorant of the Law and Constitution that her fellow members have to school her as to her job. Pathetic, I feel bad for smart black people, first Obama and now her.
Sooner rather than later, more rather than less, I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
It should be impeached and convicted for intellectual fraud and gross incompetence.
I understand and believe that the answer to hateful speech is more speech, not less. However the speech practiced by Mr. Davis and apparently lauded by the institution he serves begets violence and the quelling of the rights of the opposition. His speech threatens others and represents an assault on civil society. We have the lessons of history to show us where such speech leads us when the government and public institutions are captured by the ideas such as Mr. Davis. There is no good reason that the taxpayers continue to fund those institutions.
To the degree that speech represent the heart and/or character of a person, the good folks at Harvard made a very bad choice.
END Federal Aid to colleges
End Federal Backing to student loans
End Federal Aid to States that Fund Colleges as well!
DEFUND The Democrat machine
Article 1, Section 8
Congress has the power to tax for only debt, defense, and general welfare.
Congress has no power to tax for individual or specific welfare or for charity.
Were the colonists justified in using violence to stop the unfairness of the British?
I believe it was the Brits that fired the shot heard around the world. British soldiers against a mostly peaceful protest, God knows white people are much too smart to burn down and loot businesses in their own communities.
“God knows white people are much too smart to burn down and loot businesses in their own communities.”
Yeah… but the Democrats’ overwhelmingly white Antifa communists are smart enough to not burn down Hollywood Hills or Martha’s Vineyard – but to burn down black neighborhoods instead..
You know: to save it.
Usually homes that are infested with pests and grime take several cleanings and deep scrubbing to remove the filth and keep it out! Sadly, some homes stay infested despite best efforts to restore them to an acceptable level of cleanliness because the vermin return and only bulldozing the structure finalizes the problem.
I suppose that he thinks the mob will protect him if the cultural winds suddenly change as they are apt to do. I think Robespierre thought the same way up until he lost his head.
Such unmitigated excess often leads to purges whether your side wins or loses.
If you side wins then your rage and continued fighting become inconvenient to the new rulers since you “taint the message” and your excesses cause “problems” or “obstacles” that can be removed by the sudden loss of your presence. If your side loses then you just become a “loose end” or a “target to be removed” for the safety of the body politic.
They never seem to figure that out until they are on the train to the Gulag or they are suddenly standing in front of a single post somewhere in a field.
“ For the record, I opposed measures directed at Harvard as inimical to free speech and academic freedom.”
Ok. So why are you whining then Professor? How is this any different than the young Republicans’ racist text scandal? The professor didn’t utter a peep about it. Could it be because it makes the Republican Party look bad? Sure it does. Ironically it reinforces the racist and bigoted reputation the party has always had. A new generation of future Republican leaders is already as racist as the current ones. The only difference is that the “young” ones have not learned how to keep it under wraps.
Ahem, racist Republicans? Wasn’t it Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, who marched American Indians from their lands in the American southeast along the Train of Tears to Oklahoma territory, causing the death of many along the way? Wasn’t it Democrat slave owners that were responsible for the Civil War? Wasn’t it Democrat President Woodrow Wilson that re-segregated the U.S. military? Wasn’t it Democrat politicians and sitting Democrat governors (see, Democrat George Wallace) who fought to keep public schools and universities segregated? Don’t you mean those racists?
Vincente
Yes Andrew Jackson did those things, he was a hard man from a different time with people fighting for control of the country. I believe the trail of tears followed the Creek Indian attack in Alabama that killed several hundred WHITE men, women and children. That’s what wars produce, winners and losers. Conquered Nations and to the victors go the spoils as well as writing their version of history.
“Ok. So why are you whining then Professor?”
Why are you frantically following around the Professor, hysterically snapping and barking at his heels? Your extensive collection of butt plugs all faking dead batteries this morning, George?
What makes Democrat Marxist Useless Idiots look bad George, is YOU.
Young people are wising up. At some point soon, they’ll be mocking racists given positions of influence by Universities. This madness has peaked and is waning.
Consistency is hard, even for Harvard
No surprise since Obama’s pal Penny Pritzker is still head of the Harvard Corporation.
I just saw something in the Guiffre Book about a Pritzker and head… it cost alot more than a Penny.
The real hypocrite is the free speech advocate who would prefer that people not express themselves so freely.
Free speech does NOT mean consequence free speech. It merely means speech free from GOVERNMENT influence.
Free association – also a first amendment right – means that we can turn our backs and disassociate from those we deem abhorrent. The
Turley makes clear that he does not think Government has a role here.
He is correct. Trump is wrong to use federal funds to induce Harvard to make better choices.
The CORRECT approach is to get he federal government ENTIRELY out of funding colleges and universities (and pretty much anything else).
Such that their choices are based on Market forces, not Government.
If Woke left wing nut progressive nonsense can survive and thrive in academia absent govenrment funding to prop it is – so be it.
But I highly doubt it.
The free market rewards performance that actually benefits others – that is literally the only reason that people part with the rewards for their labor – in order to get something they want.
Can I harvest your organs? There’s a market for that.
You’ll have to buy them. Enough of that donate stuff unless the hospital and docs and nurses donate their time and skill. It might become a racket.
I have a diagram with prices attached to my DNR. Nothing’s free.
“ The free market rewards performance that actually benefits others – that is literally the only reason that people part with the rewards for their labor – in order to get something they want.”
Apparently, that is not working in Argentina with their libertarian free market experiment. The fact that they need to be bailed out when the free market is supposed to save them speaks volumes about how the free market really works. It needs regulation more often than not.
No, it doesn’t. They are dealing with the destruction wrought by decades of socialism.
Millhouse, but their solutions to the socialism problem are not working. According to the Libertarian approach it’s making things worse. By their claims their solutions are supposed to bring prosperity and liberty. None of that has happened and now they need to be bailed out….by us. A massive injection of money, ours, is the only thing propping thme up. Argentina has billionaires. They surely can start pumping more money into their own economy to jump start their Libertarian ideals and let the free market take the reins. So far that has not worked and we are now propping them up until it does. We’ve seen this game play out right here at home. Kansas tried this experiment and it failed miserably.
The solutions are working very well. But they take time and they necessarily involve pain.
As Milton Friedman pointed out, the pain is not what causes the cure, it’s an unavoidable side-effect of the cure. If you have life-saving surgery, you may have to stay in bed for a week, but if you simply put yourself to bed for a week without having the surgery it will do you no good.
“Apparently, that is not working in Argentina with their libertarian free market experiment.”
“Apparently”?: Mad King George’s favorite weasel word when attempting to sadd;e non-communists with the blame for attempting to deal with the wreckage they were left by the horribly failed Free Stuff For Everybody communism experiment.
If George ever signs an organ donor card, there is a chance that at least once in his existence he will contribute something useful.
Capitalists deserve to experience the unfairness that they dish out.
They should have their property confiscated by Antifa at gunpoint.
That is exactly what fascists like antifa would do. And exactly why they wouldn’t last two minutes if they tried.
You can’t enjoy your possessions if you are dead.
You can’t “confiscate” my possessions if you’re dead. Any capitalist worth looting can afford security that will shoot you dead when you try.
“You can’t enjoy your possessions if you are dead.”
You can’t enjoy your sexual fantasies of confiscation while you’re gagging out your life’s blood in a puddle of your own gore before assuming room temperature.
Policy 5.56 applies, little communist Bolshevik Birthing Boy.
Really dumb comment.. what are you 15 years old?
DustOff,
Sounds more like Mao’s culture revolution is what they want.
ATS – life is not fair.
“capitolists” deserve the life that they are able to earn – that is precisely how the free market works – and though far from perfect, it is actually the MOST FAIR system we have.
YOU do not part with your hard earned money except to get something you value even more from someone who values your money more than what they provide you – a virtuous circle in which everyone wins.
If you wish a “capitolist” to experience some “unfairness” – do not buy what they are selling.
It is that simple.
No, it isn’t. They will just keep doing it to others. They only way to
stop them is to imprison them and confiscate the property that their unfairness
stems from.
What are they doing to others that is such “unfairness?”
John Say is correct. There is no mandate that I buy from a particular capitalist. I can choose to buy from Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware or the local mom&pop store, which I frequently do. We know each other by first names. So, according to you, the mom&pop store should be imprisoned and all their property confiscated for what exactly? What unfairness?
I also have free will. I can go to a mall, walk around for an hour or two and not buy anything.
I buy books from Thriftbooks. Not Amazon. Not Barnes and Noble. Free markets give me that choice.
“They only way to stop them is to imprison them and confiscate the property that their unfairness stems from.”
Aside from your pathetic Marxist version of the situation… when do you believe you’ll have borrowed enough spine and a set of balls to actually try doing that, little Biden Birthing Boy?
“ If you wish a “capitolist” to experience some “unfairness” – do not buy what they are selling.
It is that simple.”
Is that what China did with U.S. farmers? They chose not to buy what we were selling and we paid the price for it. Should our government bail out the farmers or should we let them go under and let ‘better’ farmers try to do better? After all in a free market environment these farmers shouldn’t be bailed out at all.
Should American Whisky distillers be bailed out because Canada chose not to buy American Bourbon? Maybe they should look for another buyer somewhere per free market philosophy. Or should the government offer support?
“Canada” didn’t choose not to buy American bourbon, unless you’re talking about the Canadian government’s own stock for their private meetings. It’s up to Canadians to choose what they like to buy, and the Canadian government forcibly prevents them from doing so.
John Say,
Well said. I can walk into a Wal-mart, walk around for an hour and walk out having not bought a thing. That is what free markets allow. The only way they get my money is if they offer something that I deem has value. Otherwise I just walk by.
But you presume that you deserve to buy anything. If you are a cruel, unfair, sadistic douche bag, you don’t deserve the good life. Your “character” should disqualify you from it.
John Say, you are absolutely right.
Communists deserve everything PolPot, Mao, Stalin and Kim unleash on them, at least the ones they didn’t kill. U R A Fkn Idiot
Capitalists do not do anything unfair. Anyone who would confiscate their property deserves to be killed.
“They should have their property confiscated by Antifa at gunpoint.”
You Antifa cowards should try that and see how it works out for you. Do you accept reservations to do house calls to confiscate property here in Montana?