Laurence Tribe: ‘The Idea that Harvard Is a Hotbed of Anti-Semitism … Is Nonsense’

EXCERPT:

TRIBE: “Well, I think Nick Kristof does have a point that we could always do better. So could everybody. But the idea that Harvard is a hotbed of anti-Semitism, which is what the president is claiming, is nonsense. Certainly, the president who went out of his way to say that there are good people on both sides when there was a Nazi March, is hardly the voice of anti-Semitism. And it is true that Harvard could be more hospitable than it already is to various viewpoints. But the way to improve that is to keep moving in the direction that Harvard has been moving. I’ve been among those who have said that students who protest peacefully, even if they’re protesting on the Palestinian side, ought to be protected and the president of Harvard has agreed. So I’m not sure where the gripe comes from. It may be that when Nick Kristof was a member of the Board of Overseers, that things were not as good as they are now, but I think Harvard is doing a pretty good job. And the judge, Allison Burroughs, who graduated, by the way, from Pennsylvania Law School rather than Harvard, is really a brilliant jurist, and I think she’ll give everybody a fair shake.”