Rudenstine Says Groups May Invite All Speakers

President Neil L. Rudenstine said in an interview yesterday that campus organizations have a "fundamental right" to invite whomever they want to speak at Harvard.

Rudenstine refused to comment on City University of New York Professor Leonard Jeffries' controversial views on race but praised the way the University handled the his appearance on campus.

Asked about the Black Students Association's decision to invite Jeffries, Rudenstine emphasized that unless a speaker poses a threat to the community, there should be no restrictions on invitations.

"People should be able to actually encounter, listen to and, if there's time, question real, live people," said Rudenstine.

The president said the issue is "more than the First Amendment."

"It is a much more important right, which is the right of members of the University community to be able to invite and listen to people in whom the have an interest."

Rudenstine said that students and administrators handled the events surrounding the Jeffries speech "extraordinarily well."

"I think it happened just right," he said. "People who wanted to protest were able to make their voices heard, and the people who wanted to hear the speech were able to."

He said administrators were successful in providing adequate security and in making sure "University adults in positions of responsibility" were present.

Like other University officials, Rudenstine would not comment on Jeffries' views on race, which have drawn ire and skepticism from others in the academic community. He said he has only second-hand knowledge of the professor's public statements.

But the president did say that the idea of students taking legal action against colleges for failing to teach certain Afrocentric theories--which Jeffries suggested in his speech Wednesday night--was "very odd" and would put a check on academic freedom.

"It would have a chilling effect on intellectual inquiry and the pursuit of truth," Rudenstine said.