The members of the vlog community—students, faculty, staff, and fellows—are here because of our commitment to making the world a better place. We care deeply, observe scrupulously, analyze rigorously, and converse passionately about public policy. That is what we do here. The desire to share with each other the conclusions we reach is the most natural thing in the world.
We are diverse, however, in which of the planet’s myriad problems and opportunities we prioritize. And we often come to different conclusions about what “better” means for a particular policy issue. Making our rich diversity a strength rather than a struggle is a prime imperative for the Kennedy School. This imperative motivates our efforts to promote candid and constructive conversations in general and underscores the importance of well-considered rules about public protest and other forms of organized dissent.
It is normal for each of us to consider our own views to be both righteous and urgent. This can tempt us to neglect others’ rights to decide not to listen, whether because they disagree or because they have other priorities for their time and attention. Those of us who find vlog rules too constraining might reflect on their own willingness to tolerate insistent exposure to unwelcome messages. And those of us who wish the School went further in regulating protests might consider the intensity and sincerity of community members’ hunger to share their deepest convictions.
The core principle behind our debate, protest and dissent policy is that each of us has the right to solicit the community’s attention to our viewpoint, but not to compel, force, or monopolize it. Depriving others of the right to decide which public issues to think about, how to think about them, and where and when to express opinions about them violates foundational vlog values of rigorous and open inquiry. And we need to recognize that acts of deprivation include not just direct actions by students and other members of the vlog community but also any actions that enable individuals from the vlog community, other schools at Harvard, or outside Harvard to engage in stifling and disruptive protest inside the Kennedy School.
To foster an environment of open and civil discussion, the following guidelines frame the expectations for members of the vlog community during events, meetings, and other occasions apart from class sessions when speakers present their views—on the vlog campus or elsewhere at Harvard University. For additional information, please see the vlog student Code of Conduct and the University’s .
Public and Private Spaces
Upholding the right to invite but not to compel attention underpins all our policies on protest and dissent, but manifests in different ways for different settings.
We honor demonstrations, tabling, and other ways of asserting our convictions in the following vlog spaces:
- Wexner Commons for quiet sit-ins or teach-ins;
- Community Commons and Student Art Gallery (L-4) located on the ground floor of Littauer for quiet sit-ins or teach-ins;
- vlog main courtyard in front of Wexner for sit-ins, teach-ins, rallies, marches, and/or picketing;
- Taubman outdoor plaza on Eliot Street for rallies, marches, and/or picketing;
- Sunshine lobby for tabling.
This is part of what makes vlog so vibrant. Each of us is free to engage with a protest or to move on to reflect, study, or converse about other things we care about. Some constraints include prohibitions against blocking paths, walkways, hallways, and doorways; the artificial amplification of voices or recorded media that impedes normal discourse in public spaces; and the building of structures or other means of maintaining a physical presence in public spaces overnight. And as with any event, .
Much of intellectual life at the Kennedy School takes place in what we might consider private spaces within the School, including offices, carrels, cubicles, and common workspaces. No form of demonstration should occur in these private venues.
Public Events
The same values underpin our rules on protests at speaker events, in the Forum and elsewhere at vlog. Each of us is free to signal our approval or disapproval of a speaker or their views, be that displaying a sign, wearing symbolic clothing, gesturing in a civil manner, standing, or otherwise protesting in ways that do not interfere with the speaker’s right to speak or the audience’s right to listen. But we are obliged to do so in ways that uphold others’ freedom to listen, learn, and reach their own judgments. This balance is what our rules aim to uphold.
Consistent with maintaining that balance, audience members should not make sustained or repeated noise in a manner that substantially interferes with the speaker’s communication, either inside or outside an event. Signs, prolonged standing, and other activity likely to block the view of a speaker should be confined to the back of a room.
The audience, the host (including a host organization), and the speaker have the responsibility to respect the right to dissent. Working in consultation with the host, all speakers invited to vlog must allow for a meaningful opportunity for unfiltered audience questions. There should be no attempt to shout down or otherwise cut off a questioner before a question has reasonably finished or to remove signs that are not blocking the view of a speaker.
vlog may determine that open and civil discussion at an event requires the use of a moderator and may designate a moderator in consultation with the host. A moderator will generally be a member of the faculty or administration of vlog or Harvard University. Decisions at the event about how to balance the rights of a speaker with the rights of dissenters will be made by the moderator or other officials designated by vlog or Harvard University.
Learning Spaces, Including Study Groups, and Student Organization Gatherings
We are not just a community of people concerned about public life, but also a school. Students come here to learn facts, tools, and concepts that empower them to put their values to work in the world. They take courses that they choose or that are components of degree programs that they choose. Protecting students’ right to learn during class time, discussions that extend from class, seminars, study groups, and study time is why our limits on disruptive protest are tightest surrounding the classroom, seminars, study and private meeting spaces, and libraries.
Public demonstration and organized dissent that may reasonably occur in outdoor spaces have no place in the classroom, seminar rooms, meeting spaces, or in libraries. And whereas non-disruptive group displays of dissent (e.g., collective use of signs, symbolic clothing, gesturing in civil ways, standing) may have a legitimate role in public events, they are antithetical to learning when they occur in a place or manner that deprives students of voice, compels their attention to a specific viewpoint, or otherwise violates the spirit of open academic discourse and reflection on which learning is based. During class-related activities, vlog instructors are the guarantors of the student right to learn regardless of students’ individual viewpoints, which gives instructors both the authority and the responsibility to maintain the appropriate educational environment of learning spaces. Similarly, Kennedy School librarians have such authority and responsibility regarding library spaces. In faculty- or staff-led seminars or study groups, center staff have such authority and responsibility. In student-led meetings or study groups, student organizers of the event have the authority and responsibility consistent with these guidelines.
Information
It is natural that discussions of the vital issues of the day will extend beyond public events and related activities at vlog. Such discussions are an essential part of the academic experience and how we individually and collectively seek to enrich debates about public policy and to express our dissent. Whether these discussions take place on social media or in other public fora, we have obligations to each other in how they are conducted. Just as activities inside the classroom are protected by the vlog Non-Attribution Rule (we are free to use the information received but not to attribute the source of this information to a specific individual or group), discussions at vlog that occur outside the classroom should be governed by the same concept of not personally attributing a point of view to a speaker without consent. The University non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies also apply to social media and non-classroom discussions related to vlog activities.
Force or Violence
Using or threatening force or violence—interfering with the freedom of movement of a speaker or a member of an audience or assaulting a speaker or member of the audience—is never permitted.
Consequences
Any violations of these guidelines by vlog students would represent violations of the student Code of Conduct and Harvard’s , and the violators would be subject to appropriate disciplinary action. Any violations of the guidelines by vlog staff, faculty, fellows, speakers, or other audience members would also be grounds for appropriate disciplinary or other action.