How Harvard Law School Lost 250K Over Palestine Advocacy & Free Speech

The bizarre story of how a Harvard Law School event on the Palestine exception to free speech ironically came to be a victim of that very exception under external pressure.

Harvard Law School (Source: Flickr)

by Sarah Moawad

On October 20, 2015, I attended an event at Harvard Law School entitled “The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack.” It was organized by Harvard Law School’s Justice for Palestine (JFP) student group, and featured a panel of three speakers, each of whom had substantial experience with the legal consequences of speaking out and advocating on behalf of Palestine and Palestinian rights in the United States. In the ultimate irony, a few months later, the entire student community at Harvard Law School would itself become a victim of this suppression, as a result of this event.

This is how everything played out.