According to The Harvard Crimson, on Wednesday evening Harvard University students and Boston residents gathered outside of Harvard’s Institute of Politics denouncing the University for the scheduled speech of President-elect Trump’s controversial chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon. The University cancelled Bannon's appearance on Tuesday evening, but the protest continued as scheduled for ideological reasons.
“If Harvard’s motto is truly Veritas, is truth, we should be standing up for truth, and should be standing up for truth in campaigning even as we’re standing up for truth here at the University,” American history and African American studies professor Vincent Brown said.
Many students in community groups, such as Muslim and Jewish students, united in the protest.
“I feel that as a Jew I need to stand up against hate,” Harvard junior Gabriel G. Hodgkin told the Crimson. “Also as a Harvard student, I think we need to make it very clear that we won’t condone any form of hate.”
According to the article, not all students were explicitly protesting Bannon's Harvard appearance, but rather his proposed appointment at large.
Penn has also invited controversial speakers in the past such as CIA Director John Brennan last year. His talk was shut down after protestors interrupted the speech multiple times chanting “drones kill kids” and “U.S. out of the Middle East.”
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