This letter is an appeal to Harvard workers to take a stand against the McCarthyite campaign targeting students who expressed their opposition to Israel's attack on Gaza.
Freedom of speech is strictly to prevent the government from harassing you. It has nothing to do with private entities. This is why you can lose your job for saying racist shit, or be persecuted if you say something your college doesn’t like.
While that is true in the legal sense, there has also been a historical expectation (more so than reality) that universities were also meant to be bastions of free speech. And irrespective of legal protections, it is entirely reasonable for people to still be upset that other entities disregard it. Especially in cases where there are potential lifelong consequences for the people involved.
Freedom of speech is strictly to prevent the government from harassing you. It has nothing to do with private entities. This is why you can lose your job for saying racist shit, or be persecuted if you say something your college doesn’t like.
While that is true in the legal sense, there has also been a historical expectation (more so than reality) that universities were also meant to be bastions of free speech. And irrespective of legal protections, it is entirely reasonable for people to still be upset that other entities disregard it. Especially in cases where there are potential lifelong consequences for the people involved.