COURAGE: ANDREW MANUEL CRESPO IS NOT BEING QUIET

In a powerful segment on Democracy Now, Amy Goodman introduced many of us to a voice for sanity and resistance in the world of academia. Harvard University appears to have recently taken a brave stance against the fascist tactics of the Trump regime, Harvard Law professor Andrew Crespo is one member of faculty who lives and articulates standing up for justice. He delivered a powerful speech addressing the graduates of Harvard Law School- most of whom will begin their careers as lawyers with many questions as to how they will move ahead. The choice is now far more difficult than in past years: at this time, new graduates need to decide whether they will go ahead to get ahead, and conform with the ideological norms that the Trump regime is attempting to create in a racist, security state, or will they emulate Andrew Crespo, and dedicate their lives to making this a more just country.

In addition to teaching at Harvard Law School, Crespo’s experience as a public defender in Washington DC and his work as the executive faculty director of the INTITUTE TO END MASS INCARCERATION, reflect his commitment to social justice. Mass incarcertion is a gigantic problem in the United States that is almost never discussed. It was one of the main issues I was waiting in vain for the first Black woman to run for president to even bring up as a side issue- but no, I guess the high paid Democratic consultants thought it might turn off the non-Trumpy Republicans and wealthy centrist Democrats, who seemed more and more to be her target audience.

In November, 2024, days before the fateful election, Crespo was suspended from use of the Harvard University library for participating in an event that, in any past “normal” moment would barely recieve notice: a small group of students created a “study in,” where they were silently reading materials about dissent and censorship, while their computers each held a small sign quoting the library’s own statement of values ‘embrace diverse perspectives.’ Two dozen other professors also defended the students’ rights to silent protest, stating that they ‘did not interfere with campus activity,’ and were all suspended from use of the library for two weeks, a petty but public statement that at that moment, University was putting up with no dissent. University VP came up with an amazingly dumb rationale for punishing these students: the silent protests ‘changed the reading room from a place for individual learning and reflection to a forum for public statements.”

It appears that Harvard may have had a change of heart and mind, as they have now made a decision to grow a spine and stand up to the destructive and anti-academic pressure from the fascists. Donald Trump seems to have decided that Harvard represents all that he hates about academia, about those who are busy doing things Trump has never even dreamed of: reading and discussing ideas, creating cutting edge research that sometimes even improves lives of millions, and hosting a diversity of opininon and human beings. All things that the Trumpers hate: deep thinking, social justice, diversity, and creativity. Andrew Crespo delivered a powerful and important speech on Thursday, May 29:

“ In an endless barrage, our government has tried to crush Harvard University, the very symbol of higher education in the world, and, more simply than that, our home. Our scientists and international students have been taken hostage, our research bankrupted, our community terrorized, all in an effort to try to change the way that we teach, the questions we ask and the answers we offer. From climate change to vaccines to the study of race and inequality in our country’s past and present, they want us to shut up, or, worse, they want us to say only what they want to hear. This, too, is what authoritarianism looks like. In the face of it, fear is rational, but courage is essential. And to your great credit, you, the class of 2025, have taught us time and again what true courage looks like.”