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  • December 8, 2011, 1:15 PM IST

Harvard Drops Subramanian Swamy

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By Tripti Lahiri

Harvard University faculty voted on Tuesday to drop two summer economics courses taught by Subramanian Swamy in response to a July piece by the Janata Party politician that made sweeping remarks against Muslims and proposed depriving them of the vote unless they declared their families were converts from Hinduism.

Darren McCollester/Newsmakers/Getty Images
Harvard University has decided to drop summer courses taught by Subramanian Swamy. Above, the university’s main campus.
In an e-mail to a research group informing them about the vote, Michael Witzel, director of graduate studies in the Department of South Asian Studies, described Mr. Swamy as “insidious” and the head of the “miniscule” Janata Party.

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The Crimson, the university’s student newspaper, reported Wednesday that the proposal to drop Mr. Swamy’s courses had come from Comparative Religion Professor Diana L. Eck.
“Swamy’s op-ed clearly crosses the line by demonizing an entire religious community,” said Ms. Eck, according to the Crimson.
Mr. Swamy could not immediately be reached for comment but on Thursday he tweeted that, “IIT/D sacked me in 1973. Four years later, I became a member of the IIT Board Governors–the very body which had sacked me!”
Mr. Swamy’s official biography says he was sacked from his position as a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1972 for “crusading for academic freedom” and for supporting union rights for non-teaching employees.
In response to a query from a Twitter follower on what was happening, he said, “Nothing serious. Non economists at Harvard don’t like my views on how to protect India.”
He didn’t seem very bothered about the vote, devoting several tweets instead to his efforts to see Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram personally investigated in connection with the corruption scandal over how telecom spectrum was allotted to companies in 2008. A court on Thursday ruled that Mr. Swamy can question two witnesses that he says will help him prove there is actually case to be made against Mr. Chidambaram, who has so far refrained from commenting on this development.
Mr. Swamy’s July 16 piece, called “How to Wipe Out Islamic Terror” was published in the Mumbai-based DNA paper but the text of the story is no longer available on DNA’s website.
However, several right-wing Hindu websites have posted the text of the article with admiring phrases, in one case calling it “nice and staunch.”
Students and faculty at Harvard would describe it another way – as hate speech. Soon after Mr. Swamy published his piece in July, the Coalition Against Bigotry at Harvard circulated a petition calling on the university to “end its association with religious extremist Subramanian Swamy.” Initially, the university appeared to be standing by him. A group for freedom in academia also urged the university not to undertake an investigation against Mr. Swamy, the Crimson reported in July.
This week, Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted almost unanimously to oust Mr. Swamy, according to Mr. Witzel’s e-mail, with even those who had previously supported retaining him changing their minds.
“I was persuaded … that the views expressed in Dr. Swamy’s op-ed piece amounted to incitement of violence instead of protected political speech,” Sean D. Kelly, chair of the Philosophy Department, told the Crimson via e-mail.
Yet in India, with the exception of comment on niche blogs and websites, Mr. Swamy’s words did not provoke an outcry similar to the one at Harvard.
The majority of comments on the Wall Street Journal’s previous blog on Mr. Swamy’s op-ed defended the politician. One reader, “Uma S,” said Mr. Swamy was “standing up and addressing the problems in India” and claimed “Muslim terrorists and Christian missionaries are destroying the country.”
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.
Corrections and Amplifications: An earlier version of this article misspelled Mr. Witzel’s name in the second paragraph.
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Comments (5 of 11)

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      • 5:16 pm December 8, 2011
      • Akash wrote:
      Which world are you living, there was a huge outcry when Islmaphobe went on a hate rampage. That is why DNA shut that article from its website. All major news papers like TOI, Hindu and even DNA had Opeds criticising the article and appraoch. A simple google search will get you the most promiment bloggers exposing Swamy’s ignorance and hypocrisy.
      Tripthi, please be a little objective rather than molly coddling hate figures like Swamy
      • 5:14 pm December 8, 2011
      • Jerry wrote:
      Harvard leads the way as always. I respect Subramaniam swamy but to call for disenfranchisement goes to say how hard he is trying to enforce his opinion on others. People who suppport freedom of speech must understand that there are consequenses to every action, thats where one must learn to draw the line. Mr.swamy’s article is direct inticement to violence.
      • 4:42 pm December 8, 2011
      • Ajay wrote:
      Off late it has become a fashion to show that you are liberal. But those very liberal-celebrities are intolerant of other’s view non-confirming to them. I stand by Dr. Swamy. Harvard is disconnected and is in so much love with self.
      • 4:05 pm December 8, 2011
      • shek wrote:
      harvard hypocisy at its best.how could swamy tolerate you for five decades?not even a courtesy of asking an explanation ! wow! free speech in free america ,dont make me laugh!
      • 3:43 pm December 8, 2011
      • PA wrote:
      Politics apart, its a loss to the student community – I would have loved to sit in his class !

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