At their best, academic institutions are spaces that facilitate the free flow of ideas, debate, and dissent. At their worst, academic institutions foreclose the possibility of these fruitful exchanges for fear of discomfort or disagreement. Harvard Law School has, for generations, committed itself to being a vibrant place that lives up to the former vision. Our Professors have trained students in critical inquiry and rigorous thought. Our classrooms have intended to give students the tools to uphold the rule of law in the courtroom. We believe that discriminatory enforcement of rules and viewpoint discrimination threatens the very ideals we aim to foster. As an educator at Harvard Law School, I would like to affirm my commitment to protecting student speech–even speech that I may disagree with–from unreasonably expansive and historically unfounded interpretations of protest guidelines.
Signed,
Patricia Alejandro, Clinical Instructor, Director of the Community Enterprise Project at the Transactional Law Clinics
Yochai Benkler, Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies; Faculty Co-Director of Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society
Sharon Block, Professor of Practice and Executive Director of Center for Labor and a Just Economy
Nikolas Bowie, Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law
Alejandra Caraballo, Clinical Instructor at Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic
Esme Caramello, Clinical Professor of Law Faculty Director, Harvard Legal Aid Bureau
Alexander Chen, Lecturer on Law & Clinical Instructor at LGBTQ+ Clinic
Steve Churchill, Lecturer on Law, Director of the Employment Law Clinic
Christine Desan, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law
Ryan Doerfler, Professor of Law
Rebecca Greening, Lecturer on Law and Clinical Instructor at Family Justice Clinic
Michael Gregory, Clinical Professor of Law at Youth Advocacy and Policy Lab
Samir Hanna, Clinical Instructor
Jon Hanson, Alan A. Stone Professor of Law; Director, Systemic Justice Project
Crisanne Hazen, Lecturer on Law; Associate Director of Youth Advocacy and Policy Lab
Duncan Kennedy, Professor Emeritus
Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law
Michael Klarman, Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History
Sam Koolaq, Lecturer on Law, Director of Entertainment Law Clinic
Adriaan Lanni, Touroff-Glueck Professor of Law
Eloise Lawrence, Assistant Clinical Professor and Acting Faculty Director of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau
Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership
Beatrice Lindstrom, Lecturer on Law and Clinical Instructor in the International Human Rights Clinic
Kenneth W. Mack, Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law and Affiliate Professor of History at Harvard University
Julie McCormack, Senior Clinical Instructor at the Safety Net Project of the Veterans Legal Clinic, Lecturer on Law Spring ’25
Daniel Medwed, Visiting Professor
Charles Nesson, Weld Professor of Law
Oren Nimni, Lecturer on Law and Litigation Director at Rights Behind Bars (RBB)
Deanna Pantin Parrish, Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and a Clinical Instructor at the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program.
Hannah Perls, Senior Staff Attorney with the Harvard Environmental & Energy Law Program (EELP)
Ari Peskoe, Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program
Rebecca Richman Cohen, Lecturer on Law
Alexa Rosenbloom, Attorney and Clinical Instructor in the Consumer Protection Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (LSC)
Benjamin Sachs, Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry
Emma Scott, Associate Director and Clinical Instructor of the HLS Food Law and Policy Clinic
Jeannie Suk Gersen, John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law
Rebecca Tushnet, Professor
Salma Waheedi, Lecturer on Law and Executive Director of the Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World (PLSMW)
Christian Williams, Clinical Instructor at the Criminal Justice Institute
The collective behind the letter directs those seeking to sign on to fill out the form via this link.