‘An International Issue’: Harvard GSAS Dean Says Free Speech Issues Are Not Harvard-Specific

Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Emma Dench said in a Tuesday interview with The Crimson that free speech is an “international issue” rather than a Harvard-specific problem.

Dench said protecting free speech and hearing students is a “huge concern” for GSAS, particularly in relation to student-faculty advising relationships, which serve as the formative part of a Ph.D. or Master’s student’s experience.

Still, she emphasized that issues around free speech are not a concern just for Harvard.

“I think this is a much bigger problem than GSAS or Harvard or anything like that,” said Dench.

Amid rising tensions on campus around the Israel-Hamas war, Dench said GSAS administrators have been facilitating a number of conversations with their students to determine student sentiment on free speech and protest on Harvard’s campus.

“We’ve also been doing a lot of work on freedom of speech — trying to find out what students are experiencing and feeling because these are adults, and we can’t just project on them what we think they are feeling,” said Dench.

According to Dench, GSAS partnered with a nonprofit organization called Essential Partners in early 2024 to facilitate private listening sessions with students.

“I think this has been well received by students because it’s an independent body,” Dench said. “It’s not talking to us and they have opened sessions which enable students to talk anonymously.”

Dench said that GSAS will continue to work with the nonprofit to address student concerns and to develop methods for “interventions.”

Throughout February and March, GSAS Dean of Students Bill Stackman hosted several virtual listening sessions, during which GSAS students were encouraged to discuss their concerns with student affairs and the services they provide.

The GSAS administration’s efforts to facilitate student conversation also come following a University-wide crackdown on student activism.

In January, Harvard clarified its policies on protest and dissent in an email sent to University affiliates, warning that protests within classrooms, dormitories, Harvard offices, and “other places in which demonstrations and protests would interfere with the normal activities of the University” are forbidden.

Though Dench said each school holds their own restrictions and guidelines, GSAS does not have specific policies on campus protests.

Despite the efforts to broaden discourse at GSAS, Dench said the “risk that we live in our own bubbles” is not unique.

“We don’t necessarily confront things outside our comfort zone with curiosity and interests that we often do in academics,” she said. “But this is not a Harvard problem.”

—Staff writer Adina R. Lippman can be reached at adina.lippman@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker can be reached at angelina.parker@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @angelinajparker.