The FAS Dean Told Centers To Comply With Classroom Norms Committee Report. The Committee’s Co-Chair Was Surprised.

A co-chair of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences committee that examined self-censorship and classroom culture was caught off guard when FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra cited the committee’s report to justify requiring FAS center directors to show that their centers promote viewpoint diversity.

History professor Maya R. Jasanoff ’96, who co-chaired the FAS’ Classroom Social Compact Committee, wrote in a statement to The Crimson that she “was surprised to see the CSCC cited in this context” because the group’s work was focused primarily on the classroom instead of the school’s academic centers.

Jasanoff added that the CSCC’s scope went beyond just “intellectual diversity” and covered a range of other classroom norms as well.

A person familiar with the matter told The Crimson that Jasanoff privately felt the report’s findings were being inaccurately applied. Jasanoff declined to comment on this characterization but did not deny it.

Economics professor David I. Laibson ’88, the committee’s other co-chair, did not respond to requests for comment. A FAS spokesperson declined to comment.

Hoekstra’s demand of center directors was sent in a Tuesday email informing them to meet with their divisional deans to ensure their programming meets the FAS’ standards for “exposure to different ideas, perspectives, and topics.” She wrote that the steps were a way “to seek more detail about how the principles articulated” by both the CSCC and the University-wide Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue working group.

Her email came just as interim Dean of Social Science David M. Cutler ’87 dismissed the director and associate director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies over the center’s programming on Palestine. Cutler justified the decision by saying the center’s events on Palestine were not sufficiently balanced, according to colleagues of the directors.

In a Monday statement, the executive committee of the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors condemned the dismissals as an attack on academic centers’ autonomy to host academic programming. Though Jasanoff is not on the executive committee, she is an at-large member of the group.

“For what it’s worth, I actually see the CSCC as a potential template for any future body that might be delegated to consider the academic life of FAS Centers,” Jasanoff wrote, explaining that such a body would be tasked with “carefully defining core concepts and safeguarding principles like academic freedom.”

“This kind of deliberative and consultative process is really important for consensus-building across the community,” Jasanoff added.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.