When Parents Protest

During Junior Parents Weekend, some juniors took their parents to classes with them. Some juniors introduced them to their blockmates and friends. And some juniors initiated their parents into the rites of protesting at Harvard.

Six parents of Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) members brought banners to Science Center lecture hall B during the opening remarks of Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68. Proclaiming "Caution: Social Injustice Zone" and "Act for a Living Wage" to their tuition-paying comrades, the poster-bearing parents were quickly ushered out of the hall, given the chance to listen to the speech only if they left their posters behind. According to the officers of the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) who escorted the parents out, they were acting on the dean's advance warning against signs and demonstrations.

The parent protestors should not have been removed from the room. They were silently holding signs, not shouting or otherwise disrupting the event. The protest was a respectful one and would have added to, rather than detracted from, the experience of Harvard that junior parents received.

Kudos to the PSLM parents for taking such an active interest, not just in their own children's lives, but in the life of the University as a whole. And even more admiration is due for their courage in actually raising their concerns to Harvard officials. Parents should feel that the College is open to their questions and opinions, no matter whether they are adulatory or critical. The College's exclusionary response to the PSLM parents will only undermine the likelihood of earnest dialogue occurring in the future.

In addition, while the University is at least consistent in its attention to student and parent protestors alike, we are disappointed that it has failed to address their concerns. When parents (or, in Harvard-speak, "potential donors") begin to echo their children's opinions, it is high time that the University begin to listen.