After Harvard suspends students from the library for violating opposition guidelines, activists demand that Harvard stop censorship of free speech.
Harvard University banned 12 students who participated in a pro-Palestinian” study-in” opposition from an on-campus collection for two weeks.
In an email Wednesday, the university told the kids their “access to Widener Library may become suspended from now until October 16” for breaking university-wide laws, according to The Harvard Crimson.
” Rallies and protests are never permitted in library”, the email reads.
On September 21, protesters who entered the library were given a handbook outlining this concept. Additionally, the collection informed you that you were breaking this rule because you were seated in the Loker Reading Room while holding a laptop that carried one of the demonstration’s brochures.
The protesters were likewise informed that they could still request book pickup at various library locations and that they could continue to do so.
According to The Crimson:
The restrictions comes after about 30 pro-Palestine student protesters staged an “emergency study-in” at Links on Sept. 21, to rally the Jewish government’s strikes in Lebanon. During the show, which lasted an hour, learners donned keffiyehs — standard Israeli scarves — and studied with banners taped to their desktops.
Other individuals in the Widener reading space continued to study alongside the pro-Palestine demonstrators while the show was motionless. During the study-in, collection staff distributed copies of the titles and Harvard University IDs of various student protesters who had written down the restrictions on student protest spaces.
Following the suspension, Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee stated it “wo n’t ever be deterred” in an Instagram post Wednesday.
The library administration collaborated with Harvard administration to” Criminalize ALL ADVOCACY FOR PALESTINIAN LIBERATION,” according to PSC, “betraying the historical significance of books to social change.”
” How are passive study-ins, advertisements against weapons dropping, and wearing keffiyehs an intrusion”? they wrote.
In a letter to library workers, Martha Whitehead, vice president for the Harvard Library, wrote that the event” changes a studying space from a place for personal reflection to a website for public statements and a challenge to some users.”
It undermines our commitment to provide a welcoming environment to all users, she said.
In September, Harvard reversed PSC’s five-month suspension as a registered student organization. According to National Review, the organization was suspended from the school in May for “failing to register a protest and violating guidelines on the responsible use of space.”
MORE: Pro-Palestinian students set up ‘ liberation zone ‘ encampment in Harvard Yard
IMAGE: harvardundergradpsc/Instagram
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