Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WIBs, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you very much, Dan Watkins. Welcome back everyone,
Speaker 2: as we are going to welcome back to our program.
Speaker 2: I guess we had about a month ago. Adelaide Parker.
Speaker 2: Adelaide Parker is a junior at Harvard, but she is
Speaker 2: also a writer and a commentator. I guess as an
Speaker 2: editorial assistant. How would you describe your role at the
Speaker 2: Boston Globe, Adelaide, we talked about it today, and I
Speaker 2: want to make sure that I don't put words into
Speaker 2: your mouth. You what's your title there?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. My title is editorial assistant. But really,
Speaker 3: for anyone familiar with the Northeastern co op program, the
Speaker 3: positions all like a co op where sort of while
Speaker 3: in school all works the Globe for six months.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you, not only are you working at
Speaker 2: the Globe, but you wrote a front, well a covert
Speaker 2: piece for the Globe magazine entitled the Return of the
Speaker 2: College Republican. And I really was interested in for a
Speaker 2: whole bunch of reasons. Conservative student groups are back and
Speaker 2: they won't let you forget it. It's a really well
Speaker 2: written article, and if anyone hasn't read it, they should.
Speaker 2: You start off by telling what it was like on
Speaker 2: election night last November fifth, with a crowd of young
Speaker 2: Republicans or conservatives, however they want to describe themselves at
Speaker 2: Cambridge Queen's Head Pub in Harvard's Memorial Hall. Set the
Speaker 2: stage for what was it like that night? It must
Speaker 2: have been. I mean, the context is we have the
Speaker 2: Trump administration criticizing Harvard for squelching dissent and philosophical diversity
Speaker 2: in campus, and yet your story in the Globe would
Speaker 2: suggest that the atmosphere at Harvard has has has welcomed
Speaker 2: at least some young Republicans. Is there is This seems
Speaker 2: to me to be a little conflict here between what
Speaker 2: the Trump administration is doing. Well, maybe maybe it's complementary.
Speaker 2: How how do you view that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think that just during my time at
Speaker 3: Harvard over the last three years, I really have seen
Speaker 3: a lot of expansion in terms of, you know, the
Speaker 3: type of conservative thought on campus and also the type
Speaker 3: of conservative groups. When I first got to Harvard, all
Speaker 3: of the conservative and Republican student clubs on campus based
Speaker 3: on you know, the conversations I had with people who
Speaker 3: were involved in them seemed very anti Trump, and over
Speaker 3: the last say year and a half, there's been a
Speaker 3: lot of growth in these clubs that these clubs have
Speaker 3: also really changed direction to become much more pro Trump.
Speaker 3: And so I think it's been really interesting. It's really mirrored, honestly,
Speaker 3: the changes that we've seen in the national level Republican
Speaker 3: Party over the past say eight to ten years. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's been fascinating. I think that there actually is a
Speaker 3: lot of political and intellectual diversity on campus.
Speaker 2: Well, you talk in the article about the right Wood swing.
Speaker 2: Tufts University research that forty percent of young women I'm
Speaker 2: not exactly sure how that's being defined, but forty percent
Speaker 2: say they voted for Trump in twenty twenty four compared
Speaker 2: to thirty three percent. So that's a jump over four years.
Speaker 2: And the shift is even larger among young men, a
Speaker 2: demographic Trump won. In twenty twenty four, fifty six percent
Speaker 2: of eighteen to twenty nine year old men said that
Speaker 2: they voted for Joe Biden. In twenty twenty four years later,
Speaker 2: the same proportion voted for Trump. That's a huge swings,
Speaker 2: that's an amazing swing. I don't know that the national
Speaker 2: media is recognizing that or giving it it's due, or
Speaker 2: even explaining it. How do you explain it?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think there are a lot of different things.
Speaker 3: I think that's just the profiles of the constituencies of
Speaker 3: the Democratic and Republican parties are changing. Especially based on
Speaker 3: conversation I've had with a lot of young Republicans at
Speaker 3: Harvard Beyond, it seems like the Republican Party, especially this
Speaker 3: last election cycle, has become a lot more broad tent.
Speaker 3: So there are a lot more communities of color that
Speaker 3: are voting Republicans. That have also been a change that
Speaker 3: has really affected each demographics and has shifted a lot
Speaker 3: of young voters who would traditionally be more liberal towards
Speaker 3: the Republican Party. I mean, I think that a lot
Speaker 3: of it also would be that if actually this last
Speaker 3: election there was a lot of economic uncertainty, and so
Speaker 3: especially young voters who are maybe about to enter the
Speaker 3: workforce or who are in college and are deciding, you know,
Speaker 3: what job they're going to have, you know, went against
Speaker 3: the incumbent party and voted Republican for economic reasons.
Speaker 2: Has how welcome. And again, I know that you're a journalist,
Speaker 2: we're talking to you as a journalist. But you also,
Speaker 2: I believe, are fairly conservative. You would identify yourself probably
Speaker 2: as a conservative. Am I correct on that.
Speaker 3: I actually would not really identify myself as a conservative,
Speaker 3: although I do come from Utah, so you know, the
Speaker 3: community I come from is largely very conservative. But I
Speaker 3: think I am a little a little more liberal than that.
Speaker 2: Okay, so we'll put you, We'll leave you somewhere in
Speaker 2: the center. However you want to define yourself, so your
Speaker 2: observations is it. One of the things that's that the
Speaker 2: Trump administration is concerned about is how uncomfortable Jewish students
Speaker 2: have been made to feel at Harvard's campus. There were
Speaker 2: two reports today I'm sure you're aware of them, are
Speaker 2: released by Harvard, including one which I guess the president
Speaker 2: of Harvard, Alan Garber, has said yesterday that it's renaming
Speaker 2: its Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging to Community
Speaker 2: and Campus Life. So I know that may be semantics
Speaker 2: to some people, but that's the sort of thing that
Speaker 2: I think the Trump administration is is compelling Harvard and
Speaker 2: other you know, some of the great Avdy League schools,
Speaker 2: great schools around the country, to do. What is your
Speaker 2: sense of as the As the growth of young Republicans
Speaker 2: on Harvard grows, is it more are they more accepted,
Speaker 2: is it more comfortable? Can they, as it were, come
Speaker 2: out of the political closet and pronounce that they are
Speaker 2: Republicans or is there a stigma still associated with that.
Speaker 3: I think I've heard a lot of different narratives from
Speaker 3: a lot of different people. I think it really depends
Speaker 3: on the communities that you're in, but largely from a
Speaker 3: lot of people, what I've heard is that and this
Speaker 3: has been my experience as well, Like one on one,
Speaker 3: people are very you know, willing to have open conversations
Speaker 3: about pretty contentious political topics, and so normally when fears
Speaker 3: about silencing come in, that's when you're in you know,
Speaker 3: a group setting, whether that's a class or a club.
Speaker 3: And I think especially you know, if you're a freshman
Speaker 3: that's just come into a new place, it is really
Speaker 3: scary to talk about, you know, things that can be
Speaker 3: politically contentious in this group of people that you don't
Speaker 3: really know. But I have heard that climates have changed
Speaker 3: a lot over the past couple of years. I know
Speaker 3: that when I was talking with Michael Aubad, who was
Speaker 3: the president of the Harvard Republican Club this past year.
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty four, he said that when he first
Speaker 3: took over the club, he you know, would often get
Speaker 3: these responds from students who are interested in joining, who
Speaker 3: feared that they would, you know, maybe face social ostra
Speaker 3: sensation if they were you know, openly republican on campus.
Speaker 3: But that over the past couple of years that you know,
Speaker 3: responses really died down, and now people aren't really expressing that,
Speaker 3: which I think says a lot of good things about Harvard,
Speaker 3: you know, becoming more open, even among all of the
Speaker 3: national attention to free speech problems on campus.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean I count amongst my friends people
Speaker 2: with whom I disagree. I actually am more sometimes entertained
Speaker 2: in spending time with friends with whom I disagree. I
Speaker 2: will tell you one story that might be emblematic of Harvard.
Speaker 2: My son graduated from Harvard in two thousand and five,
Speaker 2: so that's now twenty years ago. And he was in
Speaker 2: the senior year in a small seminar with about I
Speaker 2: think twelve people, and they were talking about the media
Speaker 2: and excuse he was in two thousand and five, my mistake.
Speaker 2: He graduated from Harvard intoy ten. So he's they're doing this,
Speaker 2: and I had just started doing my talk show here
Speaker 2: and there was an an Arab American woman who began
Speaker 2: to talk about how she was listening to this talk
Speaker 2: show and she didn't like the talk show. Obviously, my
Speaker 2: son his ears perked up. Now in this class, I
Speaker 2: think was Joe Biden's niece, the daughter of Caroline Kennedy,
Speaker 2: and it was fairly sophisticated group of Harvard students, and
Speaker 2: so my son said, I knew it was coming, and
Speaker 2: so she talked. She was upset with me because I
Speaker 2: was pretty pro Israel and still remained very pro Israel.
Speaker 2: And so when he told me the story the next day,
Speaker 2: I said, well, well, invite her to come to the station.
Speaker 2: We were right across from We were on soldiers Field Road.
Speaker 2: So I met the woman. She came over and we
Speaker 2: had two or three lovely conversations and had a lovely
Speaker 2: lunch together. So it was a different time when when
Speaker 2: you were in elementary school. Before you you Harvard came
Speaker 2: up on the horizon for you, and I think it
Speaker 2: hopefully is a better time. Yeah. What I want to do,
Speaker 2: Adelaide is give people an opportunity to chat with you
Speaker 2: and ask you questions six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty, six one seven, nine, three, one ten thirty
Speaker 2: if you'd like to join the conversation. If you are
Speaker 2: a college student and happen to be particularly interested in
Speaker 2: this topic, we would love to hear from you. If
Speaker 2: you're somebody who is maybe feeling a little better about
Speaker 2: Harvard University after you've listened to Adelaide or read the
Speaker 2: Boston Magazine cover story that she wrote on that appeared
Speaker 2: on an ape on the April thirteenth Sunday magazine, The
Speaker 2: Return of the College Republican by Adelaide Parker. We'll be
Speaker 2: back on Nightside right after this quick commercial break.
Speaker 1: It's night Side with Dan Ray on Foster News Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, My guest is Adelaide Parker, and she is
Speaker 2: a editorial assistant part of a co op program at Harvard.
Speaker 2: She writes the thing that's great about the fact that
Speaker 2: you're an editorial assistant. You also have this Globe magazine
Speaker 2: cover story in the Globe Magazine from April thirteenth, entitled
Speaker 2: the Return of the College Republican. Let's see if we
Speaker 2: can get some callers getting going here. Adelaide, I'd love
Speaker 2: to we talk about this issue. And it's really difficult
Speaker 2: to be a young conservative, or for that matter, a
Speaker 2: young Republican, or even for that matter, a young moderate
Speaker 2: when you're on a college campus where you find yourself
Speaker 2: deep in the minority. Literally from jump straight, let's go
Speaker 2: to Eunice in Cambridge. Eunice, thanks for joining us. You're
Speaker 2: on with Adelaide Parker. Go ahead, Unice five.
Speaker 4: So I'm Unice and I'm one of the students who
Speaker 4: was mentioned in Adelaide's recent article. And my question for
Speaker 4: Adelaide is what is at stake with the what the
Speaker 4: ongoing lawsuit and what are you hoping could be accomplished
Speaker 4: on the other side?
Speaker 2: Could I ask you, Unis I'm just curious. Are you're
Speaker 2: a student at Harvard.
Speaker 4: I assume yes, I'm a junior at the college you're.
Speaker 2: A junior as well, And are you involved politically on
Speaker 2: any side of the spectrum or are you simply there
Speaker 2: to to do as well as you can in college
Speaker 2: and move on. I'm just curious if you're politically active.
Speaker 4: Oh, that founded like a charge question.
Speaker 2: That I get paid a lot of money. That's what
Speaker 2: my job is. I get paid money to ask short questions.
Speaker 2: Charge questions, go right ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 4: Unfortunately, I was involved in campus and partisan paul except
Speaker 4: since I got here. But I am an oddball. I
Speaker 4: would not identify myself as a capital C conservative, as
Speaker 4: I told Addie when she interviewed me, I'm a capital
Speaker 4: C Christian who is a lowercase C conservative. Okay, so
Speaker 4: I'd say I'm not that representative of Republicans on campus
Speaker 4: or most of the students who identify as conservative here.
Speaker 4: I was looped into the Republican Club, but after the article,
Speaker 4: I'm no longer on their mailing list.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, And so what about the I'm not trying
Speaker 2: to steal Adelaide's tide, but what about the article? Decided
Speaker 2: of this? You know it led you to the decision
Speaker 2: to remove yourself from the mailing list.
Speaker 4: I criticized the Trump endorsement, and that was the portion
Speaker 4: of the interview that got published.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you criticized the Trump endorsement, And did you
Speaker 2: get some blowback, if you will, from the the members
Speaker 2: of the club.
Speaker 4: It was completely silent and.
Speaker 2: Okay, So let's why did you just rephrase your question
Speaker 2: for Adelaide? I know I've I took us down a
Speaker 2: little bit of a rabbit hole, but I find it
Speaker 2: interesting to talk to young students. Go ahead, your question
Speaker 2: for Adelaide.
Speaker 4: Again is my question about the lawsuit. So what is
Speaker 4: that stake here? What do you hope could be accomplished
Speaker 4: on the other end of what is obviously a very
Speaker 4: scary situation for the stakeholders on our campus.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if I assume you're referring to the lawsuits from
Speaker 3: Harvard to get funding back from the Trump administration, yes, yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean I think that, you know, one thing that
Speaker 3: has really made us research and education so successful the
Speaker 3: past century is this partnership that our universities and government
Speaker 3: have had. And I know that I, like personally have
Speaker 3: benefited from a lot of the research money that has
Speaker 3: come into Harvard.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, whether I'm doing research for my thesis, which
Speaker 3: I'll be doing over the summer, or you know, whether
Speaker 3: I'm learning from these professors who have their projects funded
Speaker 3: by this research money. And so I think, you know,
Speaker 3: from my perspective being a student on campus, I you know,
Speaker 3: definitely understand a lot of the issues people have with
Speaker 3: free speech and anti semitism on campus. You know, obviously,
Speaker 3: anti Semitic behavior is never okay. But I think that
Speaker 3: you know, cutting this research money really is not something
Speaker 3: that is helping anyone. I think it's just going to
Speaker 3: you know, damage this relationship between universities and the government
Speaker 3: and ultimately hurt the quality of scholarship and research these
Speaker 3: universities are putting out without really getting at the problems
Speaker 3: that the universities and the government need to be focusing on.
Speaker 3: So I think a lot of students are really worried
Speaker 3: about you know, that reallyationship being damaging and about you know,
Speaker 3: opportunities they might have and you know, cool things the
Speaker 3: school might do, whether that's you know, medical research, legal research,
Speaker 3: research in all areas being cut.
Speaker 2: Can I ask both of you the same question. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I take that as a yes. So today the president
Speaker 2: of Harvard, I guess yesterday announced that they were going
Speaker 2: to change the naming of the Office of Equity diversity
Speaker 2: Inclusion and belonging to the Office of Community and Campus Life.
Speaker 2: Is that significant in your mind, a good step or
Speaker 2: is it simply semantics? Either one of you can answer
Speaker 2: or both. Actually I hope.
Speaker 4: I hear Unis you can go first a few Blake,
Speaker 4: I have an auder take about this change. Well, Number one,
Speaker 4: I was a former student of President Garber, so I
Speaker 4: called him Professor Carper. He is a phenomenal educator and scholar.
Speaker 4: But moving on from that, I think even regardless of
Speaker 4: how the lawsuit turns out, the Trump administration needs to
Speaker 4: have some even minor semantic victories from this or else.
Speaker 4: The administration is not going to yield on issues of
Speaker 4: funding or other incredibly stupid demands that they made on
Speaker 4: our university. So if this is one win that they
Speaker 4: could take and claim as a victory on their part,
Speaker 4: I thought it would be pretty strategic for Harvard to
Speaker 4: do that. They're basically committed to the same values to
Speaker 4: change his name. Now, is that offensive to students who
Speaker 4: like utilize the office for important reasons? Yes, but that
Speaker 4: was sort of my reaction to the change.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you see it more as a semantical change, uh,
Speaker 2: a title which would draw less less criticism community and
Speaker 2: campus life. Maybe it's a more universal title. What about you, Atelette?
Speaker 2: Your response to that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I myself have never utilized this office before,
Speaker 3: so I don't think that I am super well equipped
Speaker 3: to speak about, you know what, working with it is like,
Speaker 3: I have heard from a lot of people on campus
Speaker 3: that they've received a lot of very valuable support. From
Speaker 3: what I've heard from people and professors, it does seem
Speaker 3: like a lot of the change is semantic. And I've
Speaker 3: also heard that, you know, some people are hopeful that
Speaker 3: by expanding the office that will maybe be able to
Speaker 3: deal with forms of prejudice that didn't have delineated channels
Speaker 3: under the office as it was before, like anti semitism
Speaker 3: or Islamophobia. But I also have heard from other students that,
Speaker 3: you know, they feel like with this change, you know
Speaker 3: that and the specific identity based discrimination that they have
Speaker 3: faced at Harvard is something that the university is not
Speaker 3: really focusing on combating. And so I think that from
Speaker 3: what I've heard, I guess my opinion now that it
Speaker 3: would be that it seems to mostly be semantic. But
Speaker 3: I think it's very important that Harvard like continues to
Speaker 3: make resources available to students and continues to combat discrimination
Speaker 3: in all forms, and also just continues to make students,
Speaker 3: especially those who've utilized this office before, really feel like
Speaker 3: they are valued.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just wish that Harvard, when they looked at
Speaker 2: the word diversity, they looked beyond the obvious aspects of diversity,
Speaker 2: you know, ethnic background and economic background and all of
Speaker 2: those various backgrounds, but also just philosophical diversity, because I
Speaker 2: think it's a more exciting place if you're in a classroom,
Speaker 2: where as opposed to having you know, fifteen students all
Speaker 2: kind of nodding their head like bobble heads and regurgitating
Speaker 2: what the professor's telling them. Obviously, in math, class two
Speaker 2: and two will always be four. But when you get
Speaker 2: into the so called softer sciences, you know, sociology and
Speaker 2: maybe even history and analysis, it's better to have I
Speaker 2: think some spirited conversations, and I think that is probably
Speaker 2: a step in the right direction. UNUS, thank you very
Speaker 2: much for calling in tonight. I hope you continue to
Speaker 2: listen to our program, and I am delighted that you
Speaker 2: took the time to join us and come on back soon.
Speaker 4: Okay, thank you for letting me participate.
Speaker 2: My I thank you, Adelaide. You're going to stick with us.
Speaker 2: We got a newscast, we get more callers, and also
Speaker 2: we have Harvey Silverglade who's going to join us. Harvey
Speaker 2: is a graduate of Harvard Princeton and Harvard law school
Speaker 2: and has been very much involved in these these sorts
Speaker 2: of questions. He was a founder of the fire of
Speaker 2: the Foundation of Individual Rights and Education. I'm sure that
Speaker 2: you're familiar with that group. And we'll continue our conversation
Speaker 2: right after the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2: Stay with us. My guest is Adelaide Parker, Harvard junior,
Speaker 2: and she is an editorial assistant at the Boston Globe,
Speaker 2: but wrote a really interesting cover story for the Globe
Speaker 2: magazine Sunday Globe Magazine on April thirteenth. Back on Nightside
Speaker 2: right after this.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, let me get another I believe also a
Speaker 2: Harvard student Leo and Cambridge Leo. I think I know
Speaker 2: who this is from the article. Welcome. How are you sir?
Speaker 6: I'm doing very well. How are you good?
Speaker 2: Are you the president of Young Republicans over there?
Speaker 6: I am the president of Harvard Republican.
Speaker 2: Cup Yeah, okay, Harvard Republican Club. I'm sorry I used
Speaker 2: to be called Young Republicans. I apologize. Well, you're with
Speaker 2: Adelaide Parker. Go right ahead. What's your co question or comment?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I was just we had this interview and
Speaker 6: I was sort of talking about the current situation Harvard.
Speaker 6: We had a debate against the Democrats on issues of
Speaker 6: higher education and on issues of the current situation sort
Speaker 6: of here, and I think the main sort of point
Speaker 6: what we're putting out is that, you know, while there's
Speaker 6: this national situation of the Trump administration and they're sort
Speaker 6: of ways into good seeing with higher education institutions on
Speaker 6: issues free speech. Really the question is building institutions and
Speaker 6: getting people on campus who are at these liberal places
Speaker 6: that are conservative and allowing them to build their own
Speaker 6: things and not have to be sort of beholden to
Speaker 6: this administrative processes that Harvard has created. And I think
Speaker 6: we've done that very well and are sort of continue
Speaker 6: to do that. And so I guess for the government,
Speaker 6: like there are good people here and that you should
Speaker 6: if we put pressure, it should be hiring more conservative professors.
Speaker 6: And ser've got in the administration, so.
Speaker 2: You then are supportive of what the administration is attempting
Speaker 2: to compel Harvard to do, and of course Harvard is
Speaker 2: resisting that compulsion.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Well, I think the tactics of the negotiation aside, which
Speaker 6: is sort of a thing I'll leave that up to
Speaker 6: the administration. And I'm not a lawyer nor a doctor.
Speaker 6: So these are the issues I don't get into. I
Speaker 6: know the situation on the ground, which is that there
Speaker 6: are no conservative professors, or if there are, there's maybe
Speaker 6: one or two in the undergrad area. And there are
Speaker 6: a huge amount of programs at the university sponsors that are,
Speaker 6: you know, against sort of what federal dollars should be
Speaker 6: used for. And there are also a lot of uh,
Speaker 6: there's a lot of sort of pressure against student organizations
Speaker 6: that are pushing these. In the past, we weren't allowed
Speaker 6: to bring anyone on the Republican side into the Institute
Speaker 6: of Politics until recently when pressure was put on to
Speaker 6: reverse the sort.
Speaker 2: That's that is wrong. Obviously. Let me ask you this, Leo,
Speaker 2: are you a junior senior? What year are you? Junior? Junior? Okay?
Speaker 2: Has the campus changed all of us? Remember the performance
Speaker 2: or the terrible performance of Claudine Gay, the former president
Speaker 2: of Harvard, in front of Congress and in front of
Speaker 2: congress Woman's Stephonics Committee a year ago in December. I
Speaker 2: think that was a moment in time when Harvard really
Speaker 2: realized things were out of control. And I don't know
Speaker 2: if you agree with me on that, and I love
Speaker 2: to know what Adelaide thinks as well. But it seems
Speaker 2: to me that Harvard is probably a little bit more
Speaker 2: opened today as a consequence of that, as well as
Speaker 2: the election of Donald Trump, and you know, may become
Speaker 2: a little bit more representative and have diversity all of
Speaker 2: all sorts, including philosophical and political diversity.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'd love that to be true, and I think
Speaker 6: there is a there's a possibility it will change. But
Speaker 6: I see a lot of the sort of programs they
Speaker 6: put in place before sort of this real last month
Speaker 6: of chaos. A lot of these programs were very, very formative,
Speaker 6: like the Intellectual Vitality Initiative, where you know, Intellectual Vitality
Speaker 6: is bringing in Jordan Klepperham and whose entire career is
Speaker 6: making fun of sir viral Trump supporters are bringing in
Speaker 6: sort of making these huge administrative processes when really the
Speaker 6: best way to support the students is to have good professors,
Speaker 6: which we have a lot of professors are not really
Speaker 6: the problem is to have less administration and hire conservative professors.
Speaker 6: Hired professors who teach sort of the things that Harvard
Speaker 6: used to and that they've through these restrictive you know,
Speaker 6: dea hiring processes, didn't don't have these professors anymore. That's
Speaker 6: the way to support the students, not through these sort
Speaker 6: of broad administrative programs.
Speaker 2: Let me get Adelaide in here. Adelaide, you obviously know Leo.
Speaker 2: You interviewed him for your for your for your call him.
Speaker 2: Obviously he's seeing this as an opportunity for some significant change.
Speaker 2: Do you think there will be a lot of resistance
Speaker 2: amongst faculty administration to what Leo's talking about? Or do
Speaker 2: you think it's time now for Harvard to broadened the
Speaker 2: scope of the backgrounds of the professors and introduced the
Speaker 2: concept of philosophical diversities to the student body as well
Speaker 2: as all other types of diversity.
Speaker 3: I think that from the conversations I've had with professors,
Speaker 3: a lot of them do want more intellectual diversity on campus.
Speaker 3: I think that a lot of it has to do
Speaker 3: with how hiring processes work. I've heard that, you know,
Speaker 3: the way that those work, combined with the fact that
Speaker 3: a lot of people who graduate with PhDs are overwhelmingly liberal,
Speaker 3: has like funneled a lot of more liberal professors into Harvard.
Speaker 3: So I would imagine that, you know, for more of
Speaker 3: this viewpoint diversity to take place, there would need to
Speaker 3: be some changes to the way that the faculty hiring
Speaker 3: process works, although I'm not quite sure what would have
Speaker 3: to happen, but from the people I've spoken to most
Speaker 3: of the professors I've met, you know, especially in departments
Speaker 3: like government where people start politics, they're very open to,
Speaker 3: you know, having conversations with people across the political spectrum.
Speaker 3: I think that in terms of intellectual vitality initiatives, I
Speaker 3: think that the administration really does want to make a change,
Speaker 3: but I think it's hard when a lot of that
Speaker 3: change is, you know, stuff that's trying to be put
Speaker 3: on students from the top down. And I think that,
Speaker 3: you know, as Leo was saying, for more viewpoint diversity
Speaker 3: to take hold on campus, a lot of that does
Speaker 3: need to come from student led initiatives rather than these
Speaker 3: programs that administrators are creating, which, you know, even if
Speaker 3: creative and good faith, can maybe feel a bit hollow
Speaker 3: to students.
Speaker 2: Of course, the problem is the administrators are there forever,
Speaker 2: they tell you, faculty are there forever, and most students
Speaker 2: are there for four years Leo, I want to have
Speaker 2: you stay with us, Adelaide, obviously, I want you to
Speaker 2: stay with us. We're going to bring Harvey Silvig later
Speaker 2: to this conversation. If you folks don't know Harvey, Harvey
Speaker 2: has been has run for the board of bar overseas.
Speaker 2: He's a princeton undergrad Harvard Law School. One of the
Speaker 2: most brilliant lawyers I've known. He is very difficult to
Speaker 2: pin down politically. He is a colleague and a supporter
Speaker 2: and a friend of Steve Pinker, a Harvard professor who
Speaker 2: spoke out against what the Trump administration is attempting to
Speaker 2: impose on Harvard, but has been an active academic on
Speaker 2: campus for exactly the causes that we're talking about. I
Speaker 2: got to take a very quick commercial break. We'll bring
Speaker 2: Harvey Silverglate back, and we'll wrap it up with you
Speaker 2: guys with Harvey, because this is someone who I think
Speaker 2: should be speaking at Harvard every year. But we'll be back.
Speaker 2: He should be doing a commencement address. We'll be back
Speaker 2: on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on wz Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio, and.
Speaker 2: We're talking with a couple of Harvard university students. Junior
Speaker 2: Adelaide Parker, who was an editorial assistant at the Boston Globe,
Speaker 2: wrote a Boston GLD magazine story of cover story on
Speaker 2: April thirteenth. Leo Kerner, who is the president of the
Speaker 2: Harvard Republican Club, joined now by Harvey Silverglade. Harvey, you
Speaker 2: and I have been friends a long time. We see
Speaker 2: this very similarly in terms of making a free speech
Speaker 2: important at a campus and different ideas important. Say alone
Speaker 2: to my student callers, my guest, Adelaie Parker and Leo Corner.
Speaker 5: Hello, You're a lot younger than I graduated at Harvard
Speaker 5: Law School in nineteen sixty seven, so I'm getting along
Speaker 5: in years. But I have to say that the Adelaide
Speaker 5: sounds more like a Eisenhower and Romney Republican Trump Republican that's.
Speaker 2: Which you would probably agree with that, Okay, I think, Adelaide,
Speaker 2: that is that okay for your appellation.
Speaker 3: I you know, honestly, probably wouldn't consider myself a Republican.
Speaker 6: Okay, although I.
Speaker 3: Have a lot of respect from it. Robney is a
Speaker 3: fellow Utahn.
Speaker 2: Okay, and go ahead, how have you wanted? Leo is
Speaker 2: a Trump? I support a Republican. I believe, correct, Leo,
Speaker 2: Julia's still here. We lost Lea. Yes, So okay? Is
Speaker 2: that yes? Do you still hear that you're a Trump Republican?
Speaker 6: I am a Trump Republican.
Speaker 2: All right, Harvey, go ahead that you've got to go ahead.
Speaker 2: You tell them a little bit about your background and
Speaker 2: fire and all of the organizations you've been involved with.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 5: Well. I wrote the Shadow University in the nineteen ninety
Speaker 5: eight and I started the Foundation of the Eral Rights
Speaker 5: and Education in nineteen ninety nine, which is aimed at
Speaker 5: protecting free speech and academic freedom on campuses. And I've
Speaker 5: been interested in this problem for a long time. But today,
Speaker 5: by coincidence, I wrote a letter to Alan Garber, the
Speaker 5: President of Harvard, and to John Manning of the Provosts.
Speaker 5: Dear Allen and John in close, please find my check
Speaker 5: in the amount of one thousand dollars payable to the
Speaker 5: President Fellows of Harvard College. It's my intention to send
Speaker 5: such a check on the first of every month until
Speaker 5: the coming I says President's term has ended. I retie
Speaker 5: that this is a drop in the bucket when viewed
Speaker 5: in the context of the funds as the Trump administration
Speaker 5: is withheld. There's a penalty for Harvard's refusal to bend
Speaker 5: its knee. But I suspect that my donation will be
Speaker 5: supplemented by the donations of thousands and thousands of other
Speaker 5: alumni and other donators. In the future. I will send
Speaker 5: my monthly checks to the fundraising office, and I'm sending
Speaker 5: this one to you to make clear my support for
Speaker 5: Harvard in this dark moment of our nation's history. I
Speaker 5: expect the moment will pass and or will return to normal.
Speaker 5: Until then, however, I will continue to send monthly checks. Sincerely,
Speaker 5: Harvey's to the wait, and I'm a great fan of
Speaker 5: Stephen Pinker, a conservative who is trying to steer Harvard
Speaker 5: away from its diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense.
Speaker 2: By the way, Harvard, you know that yesterday Harvard University
Speaker 2: said that they had changed the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion,
Speaker 2: and Belonging to simply community and campus Life. Are you
Speaker 2: aware of that, right?
Speaker 5: I'm aware of that. I'm a reader of the Harvard Crimson.
Speaker 5: I'm aware of that. I hope that that is more
Speaker 5: than just a change in title. I hope that that's
Speaker 5: a substance of change diversity, the inclusion is nonsense. But
Speaker 5: it's up to Harvard to make the changes, not up
Speaker 5: to the Trump administration. So I'm a great fan of
Speaker 5: Garbler and Manning drawing the line.
Speaker 2: All right, Leo or adelaide, do you have any question
Speaker 2: for Harvey. I'd like to give you an opportunity, as
Speaker 2: you know, young Harvard students, to talk to an older
Speaker 2: Harvard student who has been in the front lines of
Speaker 2: this fight of academic freedom, and Harvey is a traditional liberal.
Speaker 2: Would be the way that Harvey would describe himself.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: Either, if you want to ask ament make a comment
Speaker 2: or question, go ahead. We only got a couple on
Speaker 2: this left.
Speaker 6: I mean I might ask. I mean, I remember just
Speaker 6: last year that there was a you know, sort of
Speaker 6: rating of the free speech ratings of universities, and Harvard
Speaker 6: was put at the bottom of the free speech ratings.
Speaker 6: And that was because, yeah, by fire. And it wasn't
Speaker 6: just because they were going around shutting things down. It
Speaker 6: was because there are no professors who teach anything beyond
Speaker 6: the center. Right. There was very few institutional support for
Speaker 6: bringing in conservative people. The IOP explicitly forbade it due
Speaker 6: to election questions, and there was just a general feeling
Speaker 6: that Harvard was a place that people didn't feel comfortable talking.
Speaker 6: And now with the administration, the first time in probably
Speaker 6: sixty years that a right wing administration has made a
Speaker 6: demand of a lefting institution. The left makes demands of institution.
Speaker 5: All the time.
Speaker 6: Hillsdale doesn't take federal funding, et cetera. The first time
Speaker 6: a right wing person does that, suddenly the entirety of
Speaker 6: academia shocks. I think this is a sort of the
Speaker 6: shoe was on one foot for one for a long time,
Speaker 6: and just to take it off for a moment to
Speaker 6: see what happens again, the negotiation tactics. I don't know
Speaker 6: if it's not my sort of wheelhouse, but to see,
Speaker 6: with all due respect Harvard, Harvard has a long way
Speaker 6: to go, but not by the Trump administration's dictation. It'spected
Speaker 6: voluntarily pressure from faculty, pressure from alumni, but not pressure
Speaker 6: from the White House.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that's a reasonable position, Adelaide. I
Speaker 2: assume you would find yourself comfortable with that position.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I would say I agree with that. And
Speaker 3: I think that a lot of this pressure is being felt,
Speaker 3: you know, even at universities that aren't as global as
Speaker 3: as Harvard. I have a lot of friends at the
Speaker 3: University of Utah doing you know, engineering research there who
Speaker 3: you know, feel like funding is being cut for their research,
Speaker 3: and a lot of that, you know it is coming
Speaker 3: from these university policies that the Trump administration is making.
Speaker 3: And so I think, to be honest too, at Harvard,
Speaker 3: you know, a lot of institutions of higher education, including
Speaker 3: ones that aren't quite as liberal as Harvard is, are
Speaker 3: experiencing negative consequences.
Speaker 2: It's going to be an interesting process, that is for sure.
Speaker 2: I really want to thank Harvey as always for joining us,
Speaker 2: and I want to thank Adelaide for what you did.
Speaker 2: What you do with the Globe. The Globe has opened
Speaker 2: up a little bit of today. I read the paper
Speaker 2: and there was every negative story about Trump and the Globe.
Speaker 2: The only the only story that the Globe didn't cover
Speaker 2: was the Philadelphia Eagles visiting the White House yesterday. But
Speaker 2: I guarantee you if the Eagles had decided not to
Speaker 2: visit at the White House, Leo, that would have been
Speaker 2: a front page story on the Globe and Leo the
Speaker 2: president the president. So, Leo, you always have an opportunity
Speaker 2: to tell your membership about this show. As always, I
Speaker 2: thank all of you. Harvey, great friend for many years.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for adding to the conversation. Leo,
Speaker 2: feel free keep in touch and Adelaide, I definitely want
Speaker 2: to keep in touch with you and follow your career
Speaker 2: as a journalist. Thank you all very much. We're going
Speaker 2: to continue the conversation on the other side and talk
Speaker 2: about Trump's hundred days, first hundred days, and a couple
Speaker 2: of other issues as well, because there's a lot to
Speaker 2: talk about. Thanks everyone, you've been great. It's been a
Speaker 2: really good hour of radio. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Great, thank you, thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2: Thanks Harvey talk soon back right after the ten o'clock
Speaker 2: news on Night Side. We are going to continue the
Speaker 2: conversation here. We're going to talk about President Trump's first
Speaker 2: hundred days. He had a big rally today and tonight
Speaker 2: rather in Michigan. I think it's a mixed report card.
Speaker 2: I'd love to hear what all of you think back
Speaker 2: on Nightside after this