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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
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  3. Meanwhile, at Harvard...

Meanwhile, at Harvard...

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  • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

    @George-K said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

    @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

    Some say that about people who say trans women are not women.

    And some will say that burning a cross on your front lawn is protected speech.

    So, yeah, where's the line?

    The ‘on your front lawn’ part makes it with the intent to intimidate. “Death to Jews” on a sign in front of the synagogue will cross well established first amendment lines.

    George KG Offline
    George KG Offline
    George K
    wrote on last edited by George K
    #212

    @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

    The ‘on your front lawn’ part makes it with the intent to intimidate.

    I was unclear. If I burn a cross on MY front lawn, does it cross the line?

    "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

    The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

    RenaudaR 1 Reply Last reply
    • George KG George K

      @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

      The ‘on your front lawn’ part makes it with the intent to intimidate.

      I was unclear. If I burn a cross on MY front lawn, does it cross the line?

      RenaudaR Offline
      RenaudaR Offline
      Renauda
      wrote on last edited by Renauda
      #213

      @George-K

      If I burn a cross on MY front lawn, does it cross the line?

      It may cross municipal open fire regulations and bylaws. Even worse being that your front law is in the USA, it may not comply with HOA rules regarding lawn ornaments and accessories.

      One thing for sure is that it would generate a lot of local gossip that could be totally out of context with your intentions to burn the cross in the first place.

      Elbows up!

      1 Reply Last reply
      • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

        @Horace said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

        @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

        If it were that I’d chime in. See Philip Lemoine’s comments which we discussed.

        At the end of the day, the university presidents communicated the view that is consistent with the first amendment. Speech is not per se harassment or bullying. It does in fact depend on context.

        They weren't asked about the first amendment, they were asked about university policy.

        They were asked about “harassment and bullying” policies in the viral clip.

        CopperC Offline
        CopperC Offline
        Copper
        wrote on last edited by Copper
        #214

        @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

        They were asked about “harassment and bullying” policies in the viral clip.

        That's right.

        Are either of those illegal?

        Or was it simply a question about the schools' policy and whether it was evenly applied?

        I'm not sure if the Congresswoman ever got a straight answer to her question so I couldn't tell exactly where she was going.

        LuFins DadL 1 Reply Last reply
        • CopperC Copper

          @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

          They were asked about “harassment and bullying” policies in the viral clip.

          That's right.

          Are either of those illegal?

          Or was it simply a question about the schools' policy and whether it was evenly applied?

          I'm not sure if the Congresswoman ever got a straight answer to her question so I couldn't tell exactly where she was going.

          LuFins DadL Offline
          LuFins DadL Offline
          LuFins Dad
          wrote on last edited by
          #215

          @Copper said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

          @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

          They were asked about “harassment and bullying” policies in the viral clip.

          That's right.

          Are either of those illegal?

          Yes. If charged as a misdemeanor, it would be 6-12 months in jail. If charged as a class 6 felony, it would be 1-5 years.

          The Brad

          1 Reply Last reply
          • George KG Offline
            George KG Offline
            George K
            wrote on last edited by
            #216

            https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/opinion/antisemitism-university-presidents.html?smid=url-share

            What the University Presidents Got Right and Wrong About Antisemitic Speech

            I had a singular thought: Censorship helped put these presidents in their predicament, and censorship will not help them escape.

            I’m a former litigator who spent much of my legal career battling censorship on college campuses, and the thing that struck me about the presidents’ answers wasn’t their legal insufficiency but rather their stunning hypocrisy. And it’s that hypocrisy, not the presidents’ understanding of the law, that has created a campus crisis.

            First, let’s deal with the law. Harvard, Penn and M.I.T. are private universities. Unlike public schools, they’re not bound by the First Amendment, and they therefore possess enormous freedom to fashion their own custom speech policies. But while they are not bound by law to protect free speech, they are required, as educational institutions that receive federal funds, to protect students against discriminatory harassment, including — in some instances — student-on-student peer harassment.

            Supreme Court has held that in the absence of an actual, immediate threat — such as an incitement to violence — the government cannot punish a person who advocates violence.

            So if the university presidents were largely (though clumsily) correct about the legal balance, why the outrage? To quote the presidents back to themselves, context matters. For decades now, we’ve watched as campus administrators from coast to coast have constructed a comprehensive web of policies and practices intended to suppress so-called hate speech and to support students who find themselves distressed by speech they find offensive.

            The result has been a network of speech codes, bias response teams, safe spaces and glossaries of microaggressions that are all designed to protect students from alleged emotional harm. But not all students. When, as a student at Harvard Law School, I was booed and hissed and told to “go die” for articulating pro-life or other conservative views, exactly zero administrators cared about my feelings. Nor did it cross my mind to ask them for help. I was an adult. I could handle my classmates’ anger.

            But reform can’t be confined to policies. It also has to apply to cultures. As Pinker notes, that means disempowering a diversity, equity and inclusion apparatus that is itself all too often an engine of censorship and extreme political bias. Most important, universities need to take affirmative steps to embrace greater viewpoint diversity. Ideological monocultures breed groupthink, intolerance and oppression.

            Universities must absorb the fundamental truth that the best answer to bad speech is better speech, not censorship. Recently I watched and listened to a video of a Jewish student’s

            with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University. Her voice shakes, and there’s no doubt that it was hard for her to speak. I’d urge you to listen to the entire thing. She seeks a “genuine and real conversation” but also tells her audience exactly what it means to her when she hears terms like “Zionist dogs.”

            "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

            The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

            1 Reply Last reply
            • JollyJ Offline
              JollyJ Offline
              Jolly
              wrote on last edited by
              #217

              Hiding behind their virtue masks...

              “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

              Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

              1 Reply Last reply
              • 89th8 Offline
                89th8 Offline
                89th
                wrote on last edited by
                #218

                People getting really worked up over words. Sticks and stones are real... but not at these silly college campuses right now.

                ANYWAY....... curious if @Ivorythumper 's tree neighbor (lawyer at Penn?) is involved? 🙂

                George KG 1 Reply Last reply
                • 89th8 89th

                  People getting really worked up over words. Sticks and stones are real... but not at these silly college campuses right now.

                  ANYWAY....... curious if @Ivorythumper 's tree neighbor (lawyer at Penn?) is involved? 🙂

                  George KG Offline
                  George KG Offline
                  George K
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #219

                  @89th said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

                  People getting really worked up over words.

                  That's sort of the point. When "misgendering" someone gets you hauled before a panel at the university, there's a problem.

                  "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                  The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • George KG Offline
                    George KG Offline
                    George K
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #220

                    "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                    The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • jon-nycJ Online
                      jon-nycJ Online
                      jon-nyc
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #221

                      Whites and Jews the only groups? That’s nonsense. I don’t a Mormon affinity celebration, or a Buddhist affinity celebration, or….

                      Only non-witches get due process.

                      • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                      1 Reply Last reply
                      • George KG Offline
                        George KG Offline
                        George K
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #222

                        No Lithuanians either.

                        Though, one could make the case that Buddhists, Mormons and Lithuanians are not a "race."

                        "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                        The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                        jon-nycJ 1 Reply Last reply
                        • HoraceH Offline
                          HoraceH Offline
                          Horace
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #223

                          I went to a college graduation a few months ago where the black students got a special sash that said "Black Excellence". Nobody else got sashes. I wondered whether they would get pats on the head as they received their diplomas, but sadly, none were offered. Racist.

                          I'm nonplussed that any of this is surprising. These are dead center mainstream popular culture antics at colleges.

                          Education is extremely important.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          • George KG George K

                            No Lithuanians either.

                            Though, one could make the case that Buddhists, Mormons and Lithuanians are not a "race."

                            jon-nycJ Online
                            jon-nycJ Online
                            jon-nyc
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #224

                            @George-K said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

                            No Lithuanians either.

                            Though, one could make the case that Buddhists, Mormons and Lithuanians are not a "race."

                            Neither are LGBTQwxyz

                            Only non-witches get due process.

                            • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                            LuFins DadL George KG 2 Replies Last reply
                            • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                              @George-K said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

                              No Lithuanians either.

                              Though, one could make the case that Buddhists, Mormons and Lithuanians are not a "race."

                              Neither are LGBTQwxyz

                              LuFins DadL Offline
                              LuFins DadL Offline
                              LuFins Dad
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #225

                              @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

                              @George-K said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

                              No Lithuanians either.

                              Though, one could make the case that Buddhists, Mormons and Lithuanians are not a "race."

                              Neither are LGBTQwxyz

                              Simple math. The Human Race has 2 genders. Many of these individuals don’t fit within those 2 genders. Therefore they must be some other type of race…

                              The Brad

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • jon-nycJ Online
                                jon-nycJ Online
                                jon-nyc
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #226

                                Lol

                                Only non-witches get due process.

                                • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                                  @George-K said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

                                  No Lithuanians either.

                                  Though, one could make the case that Buddhists, Mormons and Lithuanians are not a "race."

                                  Neither are LGBTQwxyz

                                  George KG Offline
                                  George KG Offline
                                  George K
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #227

                                  @jon-nyc said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

                                  Neither are LGBTQwxyz

                                  Yeah to that one too.

                                  But, in today's schools they are a "protected group."

                                  In a civil rights kind of way.

                                  "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                  The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  • LuFins DadL Offline
                                    LuFins DadL Offline
                                    LuFins Dad
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #228

                                    Technically, since they can’t naturally breed with each other, I’m not sure they are even the same species as each other, let alone a race within that species…

                                    The Brad

                                    jon-nycJ 1 Reply Last reply
                                    • bachophileB Offline
                                      bachophileB Offline
                                      bachophile
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #229

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • LuFins DadL LuFins Dad

                                        Technically, since they can’t naturally breed with each other, I’m not sure they are even the same species as each other, let alone a race within that species…

                                        jon-nycJ Online
                                        jon-nycJ Online
                                        jon-nyc
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #230

                                        @LuFins-Dad said in Meanwhile, at Harvard...:

                                        Technically, since they can’t naturally breed with each other, I’m not sure they are even the same species as each other, let alone a race within that species…

                                        Actually the Ls can breed with the Gs just fine.

                                        Only non-witches get due process.

                                        • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • George KG Offline
                                          George KG Offline
                                          George K
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #231

                                          https://nypost.com/2023/12/14/news/harvard-forces-jewish-student-group-to-hide-menorah-at-night-for-fear-of-vandalism-rabbi-says/

                                          Harvard forces a Jewish student group to hide its menorah each night after its lighting over fears of vandalism that “won’t look good” for the Ivy League school, the rabbi of Harvard Chabad said.

                                          “On our campus in the shadow of Widener Library, we in the Jewish community are instructed, ‘We’ll let you have the menorah, you made your point, OK. Pack it up, don’t leave it out overnight because there will be criminal activity we fear and it won’t look good’,” Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi said at a Hanukkah lighting Wednesday night.

                                          Zarchi, the founder and president of Harvard Chabad, said the university has asked the group to take in the menorah each night since the first Hanukkah lighting on campus.

                                          But amid a rise in antisemitism across the world and on college campuses due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, the rabbi said the message is even more poignant.

                                          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                          Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
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