On Kenneth Roth, see Hugh Fitzgerald’s piece here. Elmendorf says that the reinstatement of this sinister ideologue’s fellowship is about academic freedom, but that’s a lot of hooey. If Harvard believes in academic freedom, let it hire a critic of jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women, or even allow one to speak on campus. It would never be caught dead doing either one, and it has millions of Saudi-supplied reasons for not doing so. So Elmendorf should be too embarrassed to talk about academic freedom, but what else can he say? Harvard is bought and paid for.
“Harvard reinstates offer to ex-Human Rights Watch chief after Israel controversy,” by Luke Tress, Times of Israel, January 19, 2023:
Harvard University reinstated a fellowship offer to a prominent human rights activist on Thursday in a reversal, after reports he was denied the position due to his harsh criticism of Israel touched off a major controversy.
Kenneth Roth, the former director of Human Rights Watch, was offered and accepted a one-year fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy last year.
Roth said the school’s dean, Douglas Elmendorf, vetoed the offer in July shortly after it was made. He added that he wasn’t informed of the reason the offer was rescinded, but said he thought it was due to his criticism of Israel and donor influence.
The Nation reported on the incident earlier this month, tying the retracted offer to Israel and setting off a firestorm of controversy over academic freedom and criticism of the Jewish state. It wasn’t clear why the claims were not raised when Roth was denied the fellowship last summer.
On Thursday, Elmendorf issued a statement saying he had “made an error” and the school would again offer Roth a fellowship.
Elmendorf flatly denied that his decision was influenced by donors or politics.
“Donors do not affect our consideration of academic matters,” Elmendorf said. “My decision also was not made to limit debate at the Kennedy School about human rights in any country.”
“My decision on Mr. Roth last summer was based on my evaluation of his potential contributions to the School,” Elmendorf added.
Roth said he was “thrilled” that Elmendorf had again extended the fellowship offer, but said the dean was not being forthcoming about his motives and that the episode had chilled academic freedom.
“He still has not said anything about the people ‘who matter to him’ whom he said were behind his original veto decision. Full transparency is key,” Roth said.
“Second, I remain worried about academic freedom,” Roth continued. “The problem of people penalized for criticizing Israel is not limited to me.”
Roth, the son of a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, ran HRW for three decades before retiring last year. He has since accepted a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
He championed a range of human rights issues with the New York-based group, including a push to ban anti-personnel land mines, and the establishment of the International Criminal Court for prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Roth and HRW are widely praised among human rights activists for their work, but their harsh criticism of Israel — including accusations of war crimes and apartheid — has angered Israeli authorities and pro-Israel groups….
DHZ says
The tribe has spoken.
Wellington says
Harvard is completely gone, as is the entire Ivy League. Yes, all eight schools (Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton and Penn) are shadows of their former selves, as are other “elite” universities like Duke and Stanford, as are virtually all colleges and universities in America (there are a few exceptions like Hillsdale College in Michigan and Grove City College in Pennsylvania) and which are now a very cruel and destructive joke—a sliding scale of educational idiocy from the Ivy League to community colleges. The “best” to be sure are in bitter irony mode the worst and “leading the way.” Like Harvard.
Well, if you can have Gender Studies as a major and American history taught as an unremitting tale of oppression and oppressed, then expect continued inanity and insanity. As the Canadian, Mark Steyn, has said, America was built by people with an 8th grade education and is now being destroyed by people with an 18th grade education. Ditto for Australia, the UK, France, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, et al.
Now back to Harvard specifically and with another example, which I have posted once before here at JW, to wit, https://thepostmillennial.com/harvard-medical-school-to-offer-course-in-giving-healthcare-to-lgbtqia-infants. If you can have this rot, then don’t be surprised by anything. Combat the rot but no longer be surprised by any of it. Expect it and thus be better prepared.
We live in sick times here in the West. This is due to Leftism primarily but also to silence about the many evils of Leftism. Kinda’ like silence about Islam when one knows in their inner being it is also very wrong. Yes, silence about evil and nonsense is quite arguably an unforgivable complicity. I would assert such.
James Lincoln says
Wellington,
Decades ago, when a son or daughter received an acceptance letter from an elite Ivy League school, it was generally considered to be a time for celebration – and bragging rights.
No more.
Today, these elite Ivy League schools are now – mostly – woke / communist indoctrination centers.
Wellington says
Damn right, James. The more elite the university in our time the more damage it continues to do to America, though higher education in general is now basically a sewer.
dazzleme says
James Lincoln, exactly right. My grandson is 15 and very smart, I hope he chooses a skill type school instead of university. Universities are nothing but destroying our youth.
James Lincoln says
Wellington and dazzleme, thank you for your replies.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
The worst aspect of this is that countries like India, which have preserved their democratic institutions, find themselves more prone to woke thanks to their Supreme Court justices being enamored and inspired by the US Ivy League, and issuing all sorts of woke decisions. Whereas 💩holes like Zimbabwe, which bundled out their colonial-era institutions, are less prone to woke. Countries should develop a sweet spot in b/w: preserve their institutions, but completely shut out contacts w/ Western Academia and Media
wpm says
It seems any criticism of Islamic major countries “apartheid policy” or” war crimes ” against Jews ,Christians, Hindus ,atheist ,or even people of other Moslem sects is off the table on all major colleges .A country the only country in the Middle East where people of all faiths can be elected to high office in the government to hold government jobs, to be free to run private businesses , to serve in the arm services to own their own homes ,to have the same access to hospitals, schools and education ,to have full protection of the laws of the land. The blind hate Islam teaches Moslems towards all people not of the Moslem faith keeps them in a self imposed apartheid state of mind you can not reason with people who want to kill you and your family as the main purpose of their lives. Islam is the only major religion today that the most religious members are the most violent and dangerous..
OLD GUY says
Harvard can’t afford to go anti-islam, they get millions from the Saudi’s and Qatar, at least not until China gives them more money to out purchase Islam. America loses either way.
dazzleme says
Old Guy,
America is always last unfortunately!
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Actually, they get both: China and Qatar are not in competition. Qatar buys up support for muslim brotherhood POVs like CAIR (although the only Saudi contribution is from Alaweed bin Talal: official Saudi had stopped supporting Dawa & Jihad, as they’re now deep into the Neom and other projects). In the meantime, China buys up the silence of the Ivy League on them co-opting American’s corporations to move all their manufacturing to China