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Havard president tells Harvard Yard encampers: Move out now or face getting kicked out of school
By adamg on Mon, 05/06/2024 - 11:39am
The Crimson reports Harvard's interim president sent out a campus-wide e-mail today threatening students in a Harvard Yard encampment with "involuntary leave" for students who don't pack up now.
However, Alan Garber stopped short of threatening to send in police to clear out the encampment.
In the e-mail, Garber says making a point is one thing, harassing campus security and even passersby is another and that commencement is coming up and graduates, many of whom missed out on high-school graduations due to the pandemic, have a right to enjoy their commencement.
When Harvard staff have requested to see IDs in order to enforce our policies, supporters of the encampment have at times yelled at them, tried to encircle them, and otherwise interfered with their work. We have also received reports that passers-by have been confronted, surveilled, and followed. Such actions are indefensible and unacceptable.
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Comments
Happy Face!
Everyone put on a happy face.
We don't want to annoy Likud or our donors.
Happy Face!
More about donors and PR, less about Likud
Commencement is a big deal at Harvard -- it's up there on the national stage even more so than just about any school. A messy event due to an encampment would be a public relations black eye which Harvard doesn't need in the wake of President Gay being forced to step down. Just one protestor saying something which could be construed as anti-Semitic to an attendee will get blown up in the media and the Congress, guaranteed.
They changed the schedule around so (I think) reunions don't happen at the same time as Commencement anymore, so there's less imminent worry about annoying the alumni donors when they set foot on campus.
Also, President Gay
You mentioned President Gay being forced to step aside.
Did you notice when Congress got involved in the protests, purely for screentime purposes of course, they only really went after women college presidents?
I did, but...
Penn and Harvard made sense for who got called on the carpet -- Penn for the controversy over speakers at the Palestine Writes literary festival in September, and Harvard for the statement put out by a coalition of student groups blaming Israel for the 10/7 attack. Plus there was the very weak initial response to that letter from the Harvard administration.
FWIW they all deserved to get tossed out for letting Elise Stefanik '06 make them look like fools in front of the world. If she had replaced "Jewish" with "BIPOC" or "LGBTQ+" or "Muslim" in the question she posed to each of them, do you think they would still have a job if they had given the same answer?
Some reunions do happen at Commencement
...including the big ones: the 25 and 50th reunions.
Others happen in October.
That changed post-Covid
They're all a week after Commencement now.
Correct
I'll going to my 50th the week after commencement.
Yes, a Very Big Deal
The Harvard commencement is huge, as it brings out all the big stars as commencement speakers, and the traffic (foot and otherwise) is choc-a-bloc around Mass Ave and JFK Street. I would be on my way to Watertown to work and see people walking around, dressed in their finest and getting pictures.
For my college graduation (UMassD '94) we got Gail Sheehy (Passages) as the commencement speaker. We did get They Might Be Giants about a month before.
In colonial times
...people came from miles around to see Harvard commencements. It became the excuse for a gigantic party
Ironic: “I call on those
Ironic: “I call on those participating in the encampment to end the occupation of Harvard Yard.”
Sounds reasonable
Middle ground between too permissive and too harsh.
Party's over, kids. There's a waiting list for your dorm rooms, and Mom and Dad don't want you back that bad.
Um
Where do you think they'll be spending the summer?