More About That Crazy Harvard Faculty

So it turns out blogging about Harvard is popular. Who knew?

Jokes aside, I wanted to thank Professor Motl for linking to my post. As I noted in the comments to my original post, it's good to know that men like Professor Motl are part of the faculty at the institution and recognize how "sad" this decision was.

In the end, alumni like myself will have a little impact, except to publicly voice our disapproval of this inane and pointless move by the faculty. The Professor made an excellent point when he wrote that "most of the votes supporting the shameful declarations came from humanities and social sciences - especially the people who think that they can determine the scientific truth by a vote (and a couple of politically powerful friends)." Perhaps it's time that the faculty begin to understand that the people whom they taught largely disagree with them.

These are the people who taught all of us during our time in school, and it's not just at Harvard. In most cases, even if we disagreed with outlandish statements they made, we kept our mouths shut. We don't have to do that anymore -- we are well past the point where it has an adverse impact on us if we express our own views. What we generally lack is the time and the means to
do so, but that is changing. This medium provides people like myself an opportunity to express our thoughts, even though I, like most others, lead a very busy life. It also allows us, and dissidents like Professor Motl, an opportunity to broadcast our message far and wide.

I hope, for Harvard's sake, that more people at the school come forward to disown this pathetic act. I'm only a former law student, but I know many alumni of the law school and undergrad who would express agreement with the idea that the faculty's move is beyond the bounds of reason. I enjoyed my three years in law school at HLS (no, I'm not lying) and loved many things about the school. As anyone knows, Harvard University is a terrific academic institution. But acts like this, which deny free inquiry and discussion in a place where it should be fostered and nurtured, will tarnish even the finest reputation.