Div School

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Your articles and editorials regarding the conference, "Apartheid's Arc and the Palestinian Uprising: Making the Connections," have spawned an important discussion of the basic issue of free speech at the University. I am writing to correct the record concerning our decision not to approve the request to hold the conference at the Divinity School and, moreover, to affirm the School's commitment to the exercise of free speech throughout the University.

Ironically, neither the issue of free speech nor the potential controversy of this conference ever entered into our decision. Following the mid-September request for the use of our space, Associate Dean Timothy Cross spoke with Nancy Murray, conference organizer, who provided routine information regarding the purpose of the event, date, time, size of the anticipated audience, etc. She also offered her judgment, unsolicited, that the conference was likely to be controversial and felt that we would probably need to discuss a security presence beyond our normal levels.

The immediate concern was that our space was inadequate to accommodate this event: Ms. Murray had spoken of an audience of 150 (or perhaps more), and the seating capacity of our lecture hall is 144. We are completing a major building project at the School, one which requires an electrical shutdown throughout Andover Hall. Only three holiday weekends have been available for us to accomplish this work (Columbus Day, Veterans' Day, and Thanksgiving), and the conference date of November 11 conflicted with one of a very few possible times for us to complete this essential job. In fact, a complete shutdown of power in Andover Hall occurred this past weekend, November 10-12.

On the basis of these logistical concerns, Associate Dean Cross called Ms. Murray the next day to inform her that we would be unable to approve her request. Issues regarding the potential controversy of the conference, additional security requirements, and institutional sponsorship were not factors in the decision. Our response was based solely on the suitability and availability of our facilities on that date. Ronald F. Thiemann   Dean. Harvard Divinity School