Harvard cancels poet appearance after students complain about Israel remarks

Associated Press / SFGate

[RCW2001]

JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
©2002 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/11/12/national1943EST0805.DTL

(11-12) 16:43 PST BOSTON (AP) --

After student complaints, Harvard University said Tuesday it had canceled a reading by an Irish poet who compared U.S.-born settlers in the West Bank to Nazis and said they should be "shot dead."

Tom Paulin, an Oxford University lecturer, was scheduled to appear Thursday as part of the English Department's Morris Gray Lecture series.

But in an e-mail to English majors Tuesday, department chair Lawrence Buell said the reading had been canceled "by mutual consent of the poet and the English Department."

Buell also apologized for the "widespread consternation" the invitation to Paulin had caused. He said Paulin was invited last winter, before his controversial remarks, solely because of his poetic achievements.

Benjamin Solomon-Schwartz, undergraduate president of Harvard Hillel, said he was heartened by the university's decision, adding Paulin's comments crossed the line between opinion and "being inhumane."

In April, Paulin was quoted in the Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram Weekly, saying American Jewish settlers should be "shot dead."

"I think they are Nazis, racists, I feel nothing but hatred for them," he said.

In the same interview, Paulin said he understands "how suicide bombers feel," but suggested guerrilla warfare would be more effective because attacks on civilians could create a sense a solidarity.

In his poem "Killed in the Crossfire," he writes of "another little Palestinian boy in trainers jeans and a white teeshirt" killed by the "Zionist SS."

Paulin did not respond to phone messages at Columbia University, where he is teaching this semester, or an e-mail message requesting comment. In April, he told The Daily Telegraph of London in a letter that his views had been distorted.

"I do not support attacks on Israeli civilians under any circumstances," he wrote. "I am in favor of the current efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians."

©2002 Associated Press  

[xm177e2]

Since this is not a public institution Free Speech is not an issue. That may be too esoteric for you to grasp however.

Wrong. Since it's not a public instution it's not a Constitutional issue. But it's still a question of free speech. What Harvard did was legal, but it was still pathetic. If they're going to invite a creep, they should let him speak. Then they should invite pro-Israel speakers, and let them speak.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Freedom of Speech as a term is a political issue. Harvard and all other institutions restrict speech in many different ways. Is it a violation of free speech because I can't get up in a Chemistry class and start giving my opinions about Latin? No, of course not.

What is probable is that some group AT Harvard invited this PoS, not the University itself. But in any case it has every right to UNinvite him and that has nothing to do with Free Speech but rather prevention of noise pollution.

[Righty1]

Yes and we all know "that you're not Irish unless you're catholic".

[per loin]

Do you consider the Brits to be Irish?

[Righty1]

No, thank God! If the Brits were Irish we would have no allies in western europe. You know damned well that DNA tests have shown the Brits to be essentially Dutch/NW German and the Celts to be of a much more ancient origin (especially the Welsh who must have been pretty damned savage to remain so pure given the terrain and proximity).