Harvard Students Demand Dean Step Down Due To His Representations of Harvey Weinstein

[Dr. Strange]

Harvard Students Demand Dean Step Down Due To His Representations of Harvey Weinstein

Posted by Jonathan Turley

Harvard students are petitioning for the removal of law professor Ronald Sullivan, the house dean (previously called House Master) of Winthrop House. The school has announced a “climate review” on whether Sullivan can continue as dean after he agreed to represent accused sexual harassers Harvey Weinstein and Harvard economics professor Roland Fryer. It appears that even the representation of people accused of sexual harassment is now considered its a threatening or improper act.

According to The Harvard Crimson, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana wrote to house affiliates to stay that there were “climate concerns” at the House and its environment. However, this action only occurred after Sullivan publicly assumed the role as counsel for Weinstein. Sullivan wrote a letter to residents last month, explaining what should be obvious: lawyers represent unpopular clients because there is a presumption of innocence that must be defended. Acknowledging that some students had raised concerns, he explained “It is particularly important for this category of unpopular defendant to receive the same process as everyone else – perhaps even more important. To the degree we deny unpopular defendants basic due process rights we cease to be the country we imagine ourselves to be.”

That was not enough for some who feel that Sullivan should not represent clients that they object to. At one rally, Hilda M. Jordan objected to the representation and declared “You are a faculty dean, not just an attorney.”

More at https://jonathanturley.org/2019/02/26/harvard-student-demand-dean-step-down-due-to-his-representations-of-harvey-weinstein/

[nycbos]

1. Everyone is entitled to their day in court.

[msongs]

2. evidently not so at harvard. nt

[LisaM]

3. Agreed. I once heard an attorney (public defender) who was the original attorney for the Unabomber.

She made much the same point. She was not defending the Unabomber (the case eventually was shifted to other counsel) because she believed in him and wanted to get him off - she did it for the profession's sake, and to maintain the integrity of right to counsel.

I hope the students learn to parse this out.

[Stare Decisis]

4. These students

have a dangerously misguided understanding of due process and social justice. In no respect should an attorney be criticized for ethically providing a defense protected by constitutional right.

Not any defendant. Ever.

This is the kind of left that makes my left look bad.

[LanternWaste]

6. What specifically are they wrong about in regards to Due Process?

What specifically are they wrong about in regards to Due Process (that being treatment by, and only by the judicial system, hence, the students are not involved in it being denied as implied)?

Or are you broadening the definition to include outside of the judicial system? If so, your unsupported allegation in regards to their lack of understanding is a wee bit ironic, no?

[Dr. Strange]

12. I think what they're wrong about...

is the idea that if you support or even defend (as an attorney) someone accused of a crime, that you implicitly support that criminal behavior. (Remember when Republicans attacked Hillary because she served as a defense lawyer for a rapist? Democrats were smart enough to recognize that as the bullshit it was.)

You can support due process for rapists, child molesters, or telemarketers without supporting their hideous behavior. And college students (especially Harvard students!) should be smart enough to see that.

[gratuitous]

5. Say, wouldn't this be a good time for a teachable moment?

Anyone know if a teacher can drop by Harvard and explain a few constitutional concepts?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. give 'em all an "F"

They have failed this lesson in jurisprudence.

[OnDoutside]

7. A few of them should be invited to leave.

[Yavin4]

8. These students need to be better educated

You would think that with the tuition that Harvard charges they would be, but alas...

[Stand and Fight]

9. Boy... I wonder what these students would think about John Adams...

Boy... I wonder what these students would think about John Adams defending the soldiers accused of perpetrating the Boston "Massacre". Many on the Left are proving that it's just as capable of witch hunts and idiotic thought as those on the right. This is the latest bad sign that people's ignorance on history and the law is increasingly dangerous.

[nycbos]

10. +1

[PoliticAverse]

13. Followup: Harvard Drops Harvey Weinstein Lawyer as a Faculty Dean

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/11/us/ronald-sullivan-harvard.html

[Dr. Strange]

14. Ugh

[Celerity]

15. Not ugh, good, they had many other issues for years

‘With Us or Against Us’: Current, Former Winthrop Affiliates Say Faculty Deans Created a Toxic Environment Stretching Back Years


Since 2016, more than a dozen Winthrop tutors, students, and staff have brought concerns about Sullivan and Robinson to College administrators in meetings, emails, and reports. Many of them said they believe administrators failed to protect them.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/5/10/winthrop-climate/

She said she understood Proctor to be referring to Winthrop’s history of management problems and alleged retaliation against tutors that Sullivan and Robinson deemed insufficiently supportive of them.

The problems included a revolving door of House Administrators, threats to push out resident tutors Sullivan and Robinson perceived as disloyal, and repeated meetings with College administrators about concerns with the faculty deans’ leadership. At one point in 2016, more than half of the Winthrop resident tutor staff made a pact to leave the House in protest, though they ultimately stayed.
“During our decade of service we have been, and remain, committed to creating a home for all students in Winthrop House,” Sullivan wrote in an emailed statement Thursday. “Our commitment extends to creating an appropriate environment for the House’s tutors and staff.”

In his statement, Sullivan denied current and former Winthrop staff members’ characterizations of years of events in the House.

“In any event, the matters you raise did not occur as you suggest,” he wrote. “To the extent that you are repeating the suppositions and speculations of others, they are misinformed or mistaken.” He did not, however, identify which allegations he disputed.

Harvard charges faculty deans with creating a home for students beyond that of a dorm. For three out of their four years at the College, most students eat, sleep, and socialize in their house. “The Houses serve as the foundation for the undergraduate experience at Harvard College,” according to the Dean of Students Office’s website.

But seven current and former Winthrop staff, including tutors, told The Crimson in interviews conducted over the past three months that they experienced a culture of fear while they worked or lived in the House — fear of being chastised in front of their colleagues, fear of damage to their career prospects, and fear of being fired.