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Harvard backs NYT’s Nicholas Kristof despite Jewish protest. He wrote on Palestine rapes
Harvard Kennedy School dean Jeremy M. Weinstein said that uninviting New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof would call into question the school's commitment to free speech.
New Delhi: Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance has written to Jeremy M. Weinstein, Harvard Kennedy School dean, to strip New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof of an endowed lecture honour. Kristof has widely reported on sexual violence against Palestinian men, women and children.
In an exchange of three letters over 10 days, starting on 28 August, HJAA made three requests – the school withdraw the honour, Harvard should publish its criteria for Malcolm H. Wiener honorees, and the dean should meet the group before the lecture.
However, in the last letter exchanged on 6 September, Weinstein refused the Jewish group’s all three requests.
“To withdraw such an invitation, however, calls into question our very commitment to free speech and to fostering an environment in which controversial positions can be heard, engaged with, and publicly scrutinized,” he wrote.