On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Laura Coates Live,” Harvard Psychology Professor Steven Pinker said that “There is a problem” with the school’s political climate around freedom of speech “but it’s completely unclear why defunding aging research is the solution to that problem.”
Guest host Omar Jimenez asked, “[O]ne of the criticisms that the Trump administration and even some Republicans have made towards places like Harvard, but also Columbia and other Ivy League schools is about sort of censoring and political climates on campus. Even Harvard’s president shared concerns about students self-censoring. And there was a survey from The Harvard Crimson last year that found 55% of students identified as progressive, 13% identified as conservative. I bring all that up to say, what is the political climate on campus? Do you think there is room for improvement?”
Pinker answered, “Oh, there is. That’s why I co-founded the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard to push back on the de-platforming, on the cancel culture. It’s not clear how defunding cancer research is going to help that, but we certainly are working very hard within Harvard. Both agitation by the council that I co-lead, new initiatives at Harvard to encourage diversity of viewpoints, to encourage constructive disagreement and debate, a cracking down on disruption of speakers and intimidation of students, which does not count as free speech. So, yes, there are efforts. There is a problem, but it’s completely unclear why defunding aging research is the solution to that problem.”
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