Well, That Was Fast

A quick update on the Tufts situation: we were just informed by a Torch reader that Tufts has restored the link to the text of Bloomberg’s address, barely more than an hour after our last blog entry. I guess that means they’re watching our blog pretty carefully, so I have this message for Tufts: we’re not going to go away until Tufts lives up to its own promises and restores full freedom of the press to The Primary Source. Publishing a satire is not harassment, and every day that goes by that Tufts stands by this punishment is a slap in the face to and an endangerment of those who suffer from the serious offense that is real harassment. After all, if having strong opinions counts as harassment at Tufts, why should we believe anyone at Tufts is truly a harasser?

Between Tufts and the many other schools that abuse the definition of harassment, we have already come to a place in our culture where harassment allegations are not as widely believed as they used to be. Every time a false allegation of harassment is made; every time a simple disagreement or episode of “offensive” speech is labeled as harassment, the idea that harassment is something to be ashamed of fades a little bit more. If your real concern is minimizing the amount of actual harassment that takes place so that everyone is safer and more comfortable, you will take this seriously. If your interest in preventing harassment is merely to score political points with campus constituencies, then you will continue to label anyone with a dissenting opinion a harasser. Tufts, it is time to make your choice. We hope you’ll make the right one.