Motive Behind Tape on Pictures at Harvard Law May Be Known

WASHINGTON - Nov. 20, 2015 - PRLog -- WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 20,  2015):  Although putting black tape on pictures of some black professors at Harvard Law School [HLS] is being labeled by some as a hate crime, the Harvard Crimson reports that at least one HLS group has suggested another motive, and it is not even clear that HLS regards putting easily-removed tape over images at the school as a crime,
says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who has won over 100 legal actions aimed at discrimination against women, African Americans, Jews, the deaf, and other groups.

        Both the Harvard Crimson and the law school newspaper, the Harvard Law Record, had reported an earlier defacement-by-tape event which preceded the most recent defacement incident.

        It occurred when law students of the HLS’s “Royall Must Fall” movement openly staged what they called an “educational art action.”  This first defacement-by-tape occurred when the activist group placed black tape over a seal on the law school campus to which the group’s members objected.

        That same group has now suggested that the second defacement-by-tape - which apparently occurred when the black tape which had been placed over the Royall symbol was removed and placed on the photos of some professors - was retaliation for their earlier defacement by tape of the school’s seal.

        As the Harvard Crimson reported: "They also claimed in their letter that the Thursday incident could be a reaction to their activism: They had placed several pieces of black tape over several depictions of the school’s seal around campus on Wednesday night, they wrote, alleging that someone had removed those pieces of tape and then placed them on the portraits of black faculty members."

        It is also not clear that HLS always regards placing black tape over items displayed on its campus as a crime.  If so, it would seem to follow that it should have reported the initial defacement of its seal with black tape by the activist group as a crime, especially since the leaders of that movement appear to be known to the administration.  At very least, if placing easily-removable black tape over images displayed at the law school is a crime, some disciplinary action against those who first used the tape in the initial defacement incident would logically be subject to some kind of discipline.

        To punish the people behind the second tape defacement (if they are ever found), but not those behind the first tape defacement (who are apparently known) - especially if the primary motive was retaliation - simply because of the message sought to be convened by each might seem inconsistent with the guarantees of free speech and academic freedom, suggests Banzhaf.

        As the U.S. Supreme Court has frequently reminded us, speech - and symbolic acts designed to express thoughts  - are entitled to the same protection, even if the sentiment expressed by one is repugnant, racist, etc.  There is no exception for racist speech or even hate speech, Banzhaf notes.

JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D.
Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
Fellow, World Technology Network,
Founder, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2000 H Street, NW, Wash, DC 20052, USA
(202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418
http://banzhaf.net/  jbanzhaf@law.gwu.edu  @profbanzhaf