Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Harry Lewis draws the right parallel between Harvard's kowtowing to Islamism in its institution of ladies only gym hours and its refusal to allow ROTC on campus: A separate and unequal exercise
...Harvard didn't explain its thinking, but it seems to have adopted a postmodern version of equality: Equality might be achieved only by imposing unequal access, if those seeking equality do not share the consensus view. Freedom is useless without comfort, so liberation of some might require exclusion of others.
Whatever the logic, the university failed in its educational responsibility. It missed an opportunity to model for its students the kind of moral reasoning it expects of them. The resulting standards are inconsistent, and the muddle has a history...
...The new stance seems generous and tolerant: Be nice to people, even if it means excluding others, as long as the benefit is significant and the injury is minor.
Which brings us to ROTC. Harvard bans ROTC because the military violates the "sexual orientation" part of Harvard's nondiscrimination policy. Harvard students can participate in ROTC at MIT, but Harvard will not provide them meeting space or any other support - even bus fare down Massachusetts Avenue.
If there were ever a special case, this is it. ROTC's discriminatory policy is US law. Until Congress repeals that law, Harvard should accommodate ROTC anyway, in the interests of the nation and of Harvard students wishing to serve it...
Freedom is always an imperfect principle -- your right to swing your fist ends at my nose, your right to drive a Ferrari begins with your ability to afford it...
Harvard explains its reasoning:
..."These hours have been put in place for equality reasons," read Harvard's announcement. The decision apparently resulted from a paradoxical collaboration between the Women's Center, which greets visitors with a sign reading "All Genders Welcome," and adherents to a religion that imposes unequal social strictures on men and women...
It reminds me of the Ba'athist idea of freedom as explained in Kanan Makiya's Republic of Fear
Likewise, Harvard's idea of perfect "equality" is equally impossible to achieve, so in the interest of equality of religious practice and belief, they have drowned their own principles.
