Free Speech at the Div School

To the Editors of The Crimson:

My attention has only just been drawn to a letter published by The Crimson on November 13th, in which the Dean of the Divinity School [Ronald Theimann] explains why the School refused to host the conference I was organizing, "Apartheid's Arc and the Palestinian Uprising: Making the Connections." In the interests of accuracy--and honesty--it demands a response.

Dean Theimann cites two reasons for the refusal, and this is the first time I have heard either of them. He says "the immediate concern was that our space was inadequate to accommodate this event: Ms. Murray had spoken of an audience of 150 (or perhaps more), and the seating capacity of our lecture hall is 144." This in fact had never been brought up during the month or so we were booked to hold our event at the School. If I had known it was seen as a problem, I would have gladly put a ceiling stipulated by the School on conference registration.

The second reason concerns building renovations on the weekend of the conference: "On the basis of these logistical concerns, Associate Dean Cross called Ms. Murray the next day to inform her that we would be able to approve her request." Associate Dean Timothy Cross never brought up renovations during his call. "Harvard's reputation" appeared to be the sole reason for the rejection; "logistical concerns" were not even mentioned. When I inquired whether there was any other place in the University where the conference might be held, I received a monosyllabic response--"no."

In his letter Dean Theimann affirms "The School's commitment to the exercise of free speech throughout the University." These are encouraging words, but the School's recent rack record seems to imply a Middle East exception to the First Amendment. As I understand it, the School's refusal to host a conference was preceded by its refusal to host a conference called "Towards Peace in the Middle East," to be sponsored by the U.S. Inter-religious Committee.

Still, on balance it seems that the cause of free speech has been served by the controversy. The debate in The Crimson and the audience of more than 400 who attended the conference demonstrate the interest in discussing the issues significantly outweighs the interest in suppressing them. Dr. Nancy Uhlar Murray '67   Conference Organizer