Karl Marx, despite his failings as an economist, did make a few observations containing a kernel of wisdom. My favorite: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”
University of Pennsylvania Professor Alan Charles Kors and I authored, “The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses” in 1998, and the following year we co-founded the civil liberties non-profit The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (www.thefire.org), I considered its description of the trajectory of institutions of higher education to be a true American tragedy. Speech codes were de rigueur, and veritable “kangaroo courts” were established to enforce them.
Currently, Sarah Lawrence College Professor Samuel Abrams and I are working on a sequel, and as I ponder the present situation on our college campuses, I discern farce. The farce is particularly acute at Harvard, where I attended law school – so acute that I have decided to launch a long-shot petition candidacy for the Harvard Board of Overseers, the university’s second most powerful, and only alumni-elected, governing body.
My history as a candidate over the years is not a happy one. I first decided to run in 2009 when I needed 250 alumni signatures to gain a place on the ballot. I easily obtained them. I came very close to winning and believe that I would have landed a seat had the Harvard Alumni Association, which runs the election, not denied me the right to have it disseminate all the candidates’ policy positions to the alumni body. That was a right, the Association informed me, according only to the “official” candidates nominated by the Association.
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With little fanfare, the Association then promptly raised the number of nominating signatures to the current 3,238 – Harvard’s version of “candidate suppression.” I am now faced with the daunting task of having to obtain these alumni signatures by Jan. 31. (On Jan. 16, I wrote to Penny Pritzker, senior fellow on Harvard’s governing board, asking her to use her position to extend that deadline by one month.)
I am now taking a stab at getting on the ballot, and this time I think I have a decent shot. The trends set out by Prof. Kors and me in 1998 have now come to fruition, as demonstrated by the woes and dysfunctionality besetting Harvard, including the disastrous aftermath of its recent (and, at six months, shortest-lived) President Claudine Gay’s appearance before the House Committee on Education and the Work Force. When asked a question concerning free speech on Harvard’s campus and the raucous and seemingly antisemitic demonstrations by Palestinian students and their allies, she gave a perfectly acceptable response confirming the demonstrators’ academic freedom rights. However, she appeared unable to explain and elucidate that position.
This inability was well understood by all who had followed her career as Dean of the Faculty: She was Harvard’s leading advocate for the woeful trend toward “diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion,” which, given the restrictive speech codes used to enforce these goals, shreds any notion of academic freedom, as well as intellectual diversity.
As one wag put it succinctly, Harvard – the lead plaintiff in the recent Supreme Court case that shredded affirmative action in college admissions – wants to accept students who all think alike but look quite different from one another.
In addition to these academic goals, I would work toward implementing other salient reforms.
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For one thing, I would study the number and roles of Harvard’s administrators, estimated by FIRE to outnumber the faculty three-to-one. I would also give the faculty a larger role in determining university-wide policies aimed at making them more compatible with academic undertakings. (A start in this direction has already been initiated by the creation of The Council on Academic Freedom under the leadership of five senior faculty members.) I would also forbid the punishment of any student or professor whose words are deemed insulting or demeaning to any groups or individuals – that is, I would seek the abolition of “speech codes” and the kangaroo courts that enforce them. (Students need to be educated, not coddled.)
Harvard is now at a crossroads. It can continue to fight what increasingly has become a losing battle for a campus that seeks to train its students in ideological conformity to the diversity mantra, or it can return to its roots exemplified by its motto “veritas’ – the search for truth. I hope that Harvard’s alumni body gives me the opportunity to work for a new beginning for our nation’s oldest university.
Harvey Silverglate is a criminal defense, civil liberties and academic freedom lawyer and author in Cambridge
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call between two commercial flights at Boston Logan International Airport on Saturday morning.
Flight tracking data shows the pilots of Delta Air Lines Flight 2351 aborted their approach for landing around 11:30 a.m. as American Airlines Flight 3161 was accelerating for takeoff on an intersecting runway.
Delta pilots performed an evasive go-around maneuver before the Airbus A319 landed safely and passengers deplaned normally, a Delta spokesperson said in a statement.
The two aircraft got within several hundred feet of each other, according to a CNN analysis of tracking data from Flightradar24.
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An air traffic controller asked the departing American Airlines flight where it was going, to which its pilot said the tower had cleared the aircraft for takeoff, according to air traffic control audio captured by ATC.com. American Airlines deferred questions from CNN to the FAA.
While experts say flying remains an incredibly safe way to travel, Saturday’s close call is the latest in a recent spate of aviation-related incidents the US, including four dramatic plane crashes, the ever-worsening problem of turbulence and strikingly similar close call and go-around investigations.
A go-around, or aborted landing, is an aviation term for discontinuing a landing and beginning an immediate climb, then following further instructions. The safety maneuver is used to prevent runway incursions – when aircraft, vehicles or people are incorrectly positioned on a runway – as well as to counter other hazards, like sudden wind shifts and less-than-ideal approaches.
While go-arounds can feel jarring to passengers, they are still considered common and happen daily in the US, Michael McCormick, a former FAA air traffic manager and an associate professor in air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, previously told CNN.
“Passengers aren’t told in advance it’s going to happen, but they’ll recognize it when suddenly they’re coming in to land and the aircraft just starts rising back up again,” McCormick said, again noting go-arounds are routine.
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“This is something that pilots practice in flight simulators on a regular basis,” he added.
The Boston Fleet have signed defender Rylind MacKinnon to a one-year contract bringing back the 5-foot-10 defender.
Last season was MacKinnon’s first with the Fleet, whhere she recorded one assist in 28 appearances, and also played in three games.
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According to the Fleet MacKinnon added “grit and physicality to the team’s blue line.”
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The 26-year-old British Columbia product signed as a free agent with the Toronto Sceptres after going unselected in the 2024 PWHL Draft playing 22 games for the Sceptres as a rookie.
Collegiately, MacKinnon was the University of British Columbia’s all-time leading scorer by a defender.
Boston now has 13 players signed including MacKinnon, Loren Gabel, Ella Huber, Laura Kluge, Shay Maloney, Olivia Mobley, Jill Saulnier, Liz Schepers, Sophie Shirley Susanna Tapani Amanda Thiele, Megan Keller, Haley Winn, and Aerin Frankel.
Despite concerns about transportation and crowd management, the region’s biggest World Cup day yet appeared to unfold largely without major problems.
Morocco fans, many of whom celebrated on Shirley Avenue in Revere, rejoiced after their win against Scotland.
“We’re going to go very far in this World Cup,” predicted David Lalou, a Moroccan fan from Casablanca who saw the game live.
Here’s how Friday’s festivities unfolded.
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The drinks continued flowing
Mayor Michelle Wu announced Thursday that in two zones in the city – the Temple Place Social District and the Union-Marshall Street district – it would be legal for patrons to consume alcohol outdoors.
The measure took effect Friday, and bygame time the two zones hadquickly become lively block parties, complete with live music and hearty Scottish accents.
Zachary Lobel, 22, of Newton, and Ruairidh Davidson, 24, of Inverness, Scotland, independently brought their bagpipes to Union Street. The pair found each other, and acrowd of people gathered to watch them play.
Zachary Lobel (left) and Ruairidh Davidson, both carrying a set of bagpipes, meet at a World Cup street party.Ariela Lopez
George Comeau, a senior event manager with the Downtown Boston Alliance, organized the outdoor alcohol consumption zone on Temple Place. He estimated at 6:30 p.m. that 4,000 fans were watching the Scotland-Morocco game from the party there.
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Onthe Common, a free watch party attracted fans of every competing team.
Stan Abraham, 38, of Jamaica Plain, came with friends to support Haiti in itsmatch against Brazil.
“I just got to be around my people, around the energy,” he said.
Stan Abraham, 38, waves a Haitian flag at Boston Common.Ariela Lopez
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, who isup for reelection this year, shook hands and posed for pictures with gleeful Scottish fans outside The Dubliner, the popular Government Center bar.
“I would’ve said it was impossible to drink Boston dry, but clearly [the Scots] are here and they are testing the capacity of the city to serve them,” Markey said. “It’s just a happy week.”
Scotland fans wear jerseys as they wait outside The Dubliner bar before a FIFA World Cup watch party June 13 in Boston.Mel Musto/Getty
In the Boston Public Market, which extended its hours for FIFA Fan Fest, thirsty Scottish fans did just that, lining up through the narrow Boston Beer Alley, their arms filled with as much alcohol as they could carry.
“I don’t think we’ll last all night,” said owner Dawa Sangpo.
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Also in the Public Market were Moroccan fans, many of whom frequented Mo’Rockin Fusion, a fast-casual restaurant where the food is inspired by owner Morad Bouzidi’s childhood in Morocco.
“It’s 100 percent the Moroccan experience,” Bouzidi said.
Yes, the World Cup is in Boston, but, like, not actually in Boston.
As was the case before last week’s game, South Station was packed, but some fans reported an easier commuting experience this time and Globe reporters observed a quick-moving queue.
“I had a pretty smooth experience,” said James Pennie, who is visiting from Vancouver but is originally from Scotland.
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Near 3 p.m., as a final few fans jogged through the queue to enter South Station, MBTA employees yelled out encouragement.
“No Scotland, no party!” they said.
Members of the Tartan Army sing and cheer together as they take a school bus to Boston Stadium in Foxborough for Scotland’s World Cup game against Morocco on Friday.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Richard Sullivan, the Transit Police superintendent, said the fans were “a very orderly crew.” The MBTA sold over 19,000 tickets to and from Foxborough as of 3 p.m. Friday.
“The queues were very minimal,” said Phil Eng, the MBTA’s general manager. “We got everyone through.”
But not everyone took the commuter rail. A Globe photographer witnessed a convoy of 12 school buses, packed to the brim with Scottish fans, pulling into South Bay to pick up online alcohol orders, before going on to Foxborough.
Members of the Tartan Army stop at South Bay to load up on alcohol as they take a school bus to Foxborough for Scotland’s World Cup game against Morocco on Friday.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
A duck ? Leading a parade? And what was that about Gronk?
Patriots legends Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman appeared on Fox’s pregame show wearing kilts, accompanied by a man playing bagpipes.
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Edelman and Gronkowski applauded the Scots’ drinking prowess after they drank some Boston bars out of beer over the last week.
“The last time it happened was after we won the Super Bowl in 2015 against the Seattle Seahawks,” quipped Gronkowski.
And in Providence, a famous duck named Dawn led Scottish fans on a very orderly march. In a video shared on Dawn’s Tiktok page, the little creatures waddles forwards, a small Scottish flag on its back, while leagues of kilted men with bagpipes march behind it.
Jessica Rinaldi, Omar Mohammed, and Amin Touri of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Globe correspondents Ariela Lopez, Aayushi Datta, Lauren Albano, Audrey Tomlin, Jaden Perry, and Emily Spatz also contributed.
Truman Dickerson can be reached at truman.dickerson@globe.com.
