Re: There Is No Room For Morality At Harvard

December 17, 2004

From: Dean Lawrence R. Velvel
VelvelOnNationalAffairs.blogspot.com

Dear Colleagues:

The following message has been received from a person who wishes to remain anonymous. Because I believe the message contains an important view disagreeing with views I have expressed, the sender was asked whether it would be alright to post the message as an anonymous one. The sender agreed. The message says:

‘There’s a fundamental difference between the Ogletree and Tribe cases, on the one hand, and the Goldsmith case on the other. The first two cases involve claims of academic misconduct; the third involves conduct outside of academia. No doubt there are forms of outside conduct so egregious that they should debar a person from an academic appointment; but the bar must surely be set higher. Goldsmith is truly brilliant (far more so than anyone in international law at the Harvard Law School), and he is a fine person of, I believe, the highest moral character. I also think that torture and related issues, such as "rendition," are more closely balanced than you acknowledge.’


Lawrence R. Velvel
VelvelOnNationalAffairs.blogspot.com