‘Vehement Arguments’: Romney Talks Importance of Free Speech at Harvard Business School

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) discussed the importance of leadership and preserving free speech in a Harvard Business School event Monday evening.

Moderated by Harvard professor and former HBS dean Nitin Nohria, the event was a part of the “Harvard Dialogues” series, a recent University initiative to foster constructive communication in light of recent campus turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war and Claudine Gay’s resignation.

Nohria said while institutions of higher learning idealize “true, productive, constructive dialogue,” there is growing distrust in elite schools such as Harvard due to perceived failures to live up to those ideals.

“People worry that these institutions, maybe we’ve strayed from these higher aims, and we have turned them into squabbles that are again squabbles of identity more than, in fact, a real concern with what is true or just,” he said.

Romney said that these concerns over American institutions are prevalent around the world.

“I noticed in a report that came from Davos that people around the world are saying ‘What has happened to America?’ and they see us being driven by identity, not by issues,” Romney said.

To address the recent turmoil on college campuses nationwide, Romney suggested a recommitment to norms of free speech but drew a clear line at any speech that posed “a threat to one’s bodily harm.”

Romney, a graduate of HBS and Harvard Law School, said an educational institution should have “full expression of political points of view.”

“Let’s have vehement arguments, but let’s respect one another and show people that we have respect for other ideas and for people who are different than ourselves,” he added.

Nohria said while this moment in history has been “the most difficult time” in his life, he remained steadfast in the need to find a way forward.

“As much as I think about these difficult times, I’m quickly reminded that there are generations before us who lived through the Cold War, there are generations before us who lived through the Depression,” he said. “So don’t feel sorry for yourself — there are other people who met that moment and did extraordinary things, and maybe that is our challenge as leaders of this generation to meet this moment and find a way of moving forward.”

—Staff writer Kyle Baek can be reached at kyle.baek@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @KBaek53453.

—Staff writer Benjamin Isaac can be reached at benjamin.isaac@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @benjaminisaac_1.