The Harvard Crimson obtained documents revealing that the new policy proposal that would punish members of single-sex social groups was only favored by 26 percent — or seven members — of a Harvard faculty review committee.
When Harvard University first announced that they would punish students who belonged to single-sex or “exclusionary” social groups, they claimed that only a “small minority” of the faculty committee disagreed with the proposal. Now, thanks to a leak to the Crimson, we know that this far from the truth.
The Crimson published documents last week that revealed that only seven members of a 27 member committee voted in favor of the policy proposal that would lead to disciplinary measures taken against student members of single-sex social groups. The leaks make it unclear as to why the committee decided to move forward withwhat was actually the third most popular policy proposal.
“The results of the May 12 vote were inconclusive—but the committee moved forward to officially recommend the third most popular proposal,” Crimson reporters Hannah Natanson and Derek G. Xiao wrote. “Committee leaders closed the subsequent meeting, on May 26, by declaring they would send members a first draft of a final report.”
An infographic prepared by Choi details the timeline of the proposal.
Under the original proposal, student members of single-sex social groups will not be permitted to seek leadership opportunities elsewhere on campus. Students who seek leadership roles will have to sign a statement affirming their commitment to “nondiscrimination” principles, which means foregoing participating in single-sex social groups on campus.
Under the recommendations, students, starting with the class of 2021, who seek leadership positions, captaincies, or fellowships will have to sign a written statement affirming their commitment to “nondiscrimination on the basis of characteristics of ‘intrinsic identity,’ including gender.” Students will also have to affirm they do not currently belong to a single-gender final club or Greek organization, did not belong to one in the past year, and will not belong to one the year after their tenure in a leadership position or athletic captaincy ends.
Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com
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