{"id":22087,"date":"2019-10-24T13:13:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T17:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=22087"},"modified":"2019-10-24T13:15:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-24T17:15:27","slug":"activists-free-speech-harvard-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/10\/24\/activists-free-speech-harvard-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"At Harvard University, Asking ICE for Comment Faux-ments a Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first five paragraphs of a Sept. 13 article<\/a> in The Harvard Crimson about organizations rallying to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) achieved the goal of any reputable news story \u2013 to answer who, what, when and why. Then, staff writers – Elizabeth X. Guo and Amanda Y. Su \u2013 did the unthinkable for some on the allegedly elite college campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their sin? They followed longstanding rules of journalism by requesting a comment from protesters and the subject of said protests, namely ICE. According to a petition started<\/a> by a campus immigrant rights group, Act on a Dream, the Crimson<\/em> staff made the \u201cwrong call\u201d in not backing away from their decision to contact ICE \u2013 and to do likewise in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are extremely disappointed in the cultural\ninsensitivity displayed by The Crimson\u2019s policy to reach out to ICE, \u2026 In\nthis political climate, a request for comment is virtually the same as tipping\nthem off, regardless of how they are contacted, [bold in original]\u201d<\/strong>the petition continues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unbelievably,\nthe petitioners\u2019 claims of victimhood extend beyond mere disappointment. By\nsimply adhering to commonly-accepted journalistic standards of permitting\nsubjects of a news story an opportunity to comment, the Crimson is upholding a\n\u201cpolicy that blatantly endangers undocumented students on our campus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe world of the \u201cwoke,\u201d there is no inflammatory rhetoric without the\ncomplementary pound of flesh. Among the demands is that the Crimson issue an\napology \u201cfor the harm they inflicted\u201d on illegal aliens in the community, and\nthat they \u201cchange their policies that require calling ICE for comment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the month since the initial article was published, Act on a Dream<\/a> has amassed a total of 650 signatures to their petition, according to an Oct. 22 article<\/a> in the Crimson. Yes, the reporter made \u201cmultiple requests for comment\u201d to Act on a Dream but to no avail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an Oct. 22 note to its readers<\/a>, the Crimson again defended the decision to maintain journalistic standards, including \u201cthe belief that every party named in a story has a right to comment or contest criticism leveled against them.\u201d The letter further noted, \u201cexperts from the Student Press Law Center and the Society of Professional Journalists have affirmed that The Crimson followed ethical journalistic practices.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversy has not waned as the major outlets from the Wall Street Journal<\/a> and New York Times<\/a> have covered the bubbling brouhaha. And Act on a Dream continues to unearth new ways to be offended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe amount of condescending emails we have received calling us \u2018silly\u2019 or referring to us as \u2018children\u2019 is incredibly patronizing and points towards a gross practice of gaslighting undocumented activists for standing up for the legitimate fears in our community,\u201d they complained<\/a> in an Oct. 23 tweet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t it ironic that a group founded with the goal of ending all enforcement of longstanding immigration laws is decrying the fact some will not adhere to the societal speech codes they have created and to which they now demand all others conform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first five paragraphs of a Sept. 13 article in The Harvard Crimson about organizations rallying to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) achieved the goal of any reputable news story \u2013 to answer who, what, when and why. Then, staff writers – Elizabeth X. Guo and Amanda Y. Su \u2013 did the unthinkable for some on<\/p>\n

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