Paul Reville joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on Boston Public Radio to go over the latest education headlines, which included President Trump's proposed education budget to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' performance during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on fighting discrimination in private schools.
They also went over the latest developments out of Middlebury College, which has disciplined 67 students for their roles in disrupting an event featuring the controversial political scientist, Charles Murray. None of the students were suspended or expelled. The college also announced that the Middlebury Police Department had concluded its investigation into the violence that took place following the event, when Charles Murray and Professor Allison Stanger left the building. The department said it has been unable to identify any specific individual responsible for Professor Stanger's injuries. A majority of the punishments appear to be probation.
Paul Reville said "The general business of participating in a protest that shuts down a speaker is worthy of sanction-- but not suspension -- to make the point that this institution is about clearing free space for civil discourse among people with a diversity of opinions." Reville went on to say "Universities are under attack now, particularly in this administration who considers evidence an opinion, not a matter of fact. Universities are a source of producing facts and evidence and research to support points of view about what ought to happen-- whether it's with the environment, or how to affect poverty, or develop the economy. All of it is based on fact, not opinion. This kind of atmosphere that gets created in colleges where people come forward and can't carry on a civil discourse, becomes, I think, red meat for that side of the political discourse who wants to discredit universities. Those protesters, I think, are really undermining those institutions that they are privileged enough to attend."
Paul Reville is the former Secretary of Education for Massachusetts. He's currently the Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). He is the founding director of HGSE's Education Redesign Lab. To hear his latest appearance on BPR in its entirety click on the audio player above.
