Here is the article in case people don’t have WSJ subscription:
From a Dec. 16 letter signed by 18 members of the Harvard Undergraduate Council (the administration issued an apology Wednesday night):
We, the undersigned representatives of the Harvard Undergraduate Council, write to express concern regarding the “Holiday Placemat for Social Justice” disseminated to the student body by the Harvard College Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
That this poster was distributed by an office of the College gives the impression that the points it articulates are positions endorsed by the College and, more disturbingly, positions that the College thinks students should hold.
We reject the premise that there is a “right” way to answer the questions posed. We do not think the offices of the university should be in the business of disseminating “approved” positions on complex and divisive political issues. Prescribing party-line talking points stands in stark contrast to the College’s mission of fostering intellectual, social, and personal growth.
Some of us agree wholeheartedly with the points made in the poster; some of us do not. But regardless of our own views, we believe that the College and the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion should engage in the task of helping students to think and speak for themselves, not telling them what to think and what to say.
I am unable to read the article with out subscribing. What has Dean Dingman done?
My impression of him has been very favorable. He is very involved in all aspects of the campus community and is very highly regarded.
It was unsurprising to me to discover that this placemat scheme was, in part, sponsored by the freshman dean’s office, which has previously (and continuously) treated its students as impressionable children, requiring training in political and social attitudes. In 2012, the dean of freshmen, Thomas Dingman, attempted to coerce first-year undergraduates into signing a ‘kindness oath’ that would be posted in the lobby of every freshman dormitory, affirming their belief that ‘the exercise of kindness holds a place on a par with intellectual attainment’. Dingman unexpectedly faced push-back from students and faculty, and some unwelcome, unkind publicity. He backed down and resolved instead to deal with kindness at the tendentious orientation sessions held each year for incoming freshmen – a non-public forum protected against the watchful eyes of upperclassmen, the undergraduate council, the news media, and, for that matter, alumni and donors.
The mission creep of the freshman dean’s office’s programming, however, now threatens the legitimate educational mission of the entire undergraduate college, as the students seem to understand better than the administration. And that office, now joined by the newly created and Orwellian-named Harvard College office for equity, diversity and inclusion that signed the placemat, makes the threat especially potent, since ‘diversity’ seems now to be defined as students who look different but think the same.