For a club that bills itself as offering “unique experiences,” it appears that hearing from opposing or different views is not one of them.
Dershowitz has been associated with Harvard for over 60 years and remains one of its best known law faculty members.
I only recently learned of the controversy and reached out to the Harvard Club of New York, which refused to offer any statement or explanation. It simply said that it does not discuss “events,” even apparently non-events, allegedly canceled for political reasons.
The news of the cancellation was deeply troubling for one of the country’s oldest clubs associated with an institution of higher education. Dershowitz is one of the most impactful lawyers of his generation with a long list of famous cases and influential publications. While he has been shunned by many of his former colleagues and friends for defending Trump, many admire him for not just his intellect but his grit and commitment to his principles.
The timing of the cancellation is equally troubling. Harvard has been under attack for its lack of intellectual diversity and its stifling orthodoxy.
As I discuss in my book “The Indispensable Right,” Harvard is not just an academic echo chamber. It is a virtual academic sensory deprivation tank.
In a country with a majority of conservative and libertarian voters, fewer than 9 percent of the Harvard student body and less than 3 percent of the faculty members identify as conservative.
For years, Harvard faculty have brushed away complaints over its liberal orthodoxy, including purging conservative faculty. It has created one of the most hostile schools for free speech in the nation, ranking dead last among universities in annual studies by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
Only a third of students at Harvard feel comfortable speaking on campus despite being overwhelmingly liberal at an overwhelmingly liberal institution. (The percentage is much higher for the small number of conservative students).
Not long ago, I had a debate at Harvard Law School with Professor Randall Kennedy on the lack of ideological diversity at the school. I respect Kennedy and I do not view him as anti-free speech or intolerant. Yet when I noted the statistics on the vanishing number of conservative students and faculty in comparison to the nation, Kennedy responded that Harvard “is an elite university” and does not have to “look like America.”
The problem is that Harvard does not even look like Massachusetts, which is nearly 30 percent Republican.
The school itself has shown utter hypocrisy in firing one House dean (who, like Dershowitz, represented an unpopular criminal defendant) while retaining another who spewed hateful, racist messages against whites.
The Harvard Club of New York is a separate entity but has long presented itself as embodying the values of the institution. Unfortunately, it appears to be doing so all too well. If these accusations are correct, the Harvard Club engaged in the same intolerance for dissenting views that now characterizes much of the campus itself.
Despite recently declaring itself the victim of anti-free speech measures (including some that I have criticized), Harvard continues to show no evidence that it will address its own intolerance for opposing views. Indeed, this allegation suggests that this echo-chambered culture may extend to the Harvard Club of New York.
When accused of raw censorship, one would think that the Harvard Club of New York would owe not just Dershowitz but the public a full explanation. If Dershowtiz was not cancelled for his views or prior representation, Harvard Club of New York can say so and give the content-neutral reason for the change. If this was a case of content-based censorship, Harvard Club of New York should be public and honest about its censorship policies.
Of course, as Tom Lehrer explained after he “returned from his Scrabble Pro at the Harvard Club,” all Harvard graduates rally to the cause. So “Fight fiercely, Harvard” . . . but what exactly are you fighting for?