Discrimination in Academia and Workplace

This is a question for the professor.

I am a research scientist in what is lovingly referred to as the People's

Republic of Cambridge.

I, I actually worry in my workplace, based off of commentary around

me, that I will be passed up for promotions,

that I will be

looked at differently because of my views.

I got a new job within this company recently, and one of the first

things, I think I was six days into the job, was,

"But you didn't vote for

Trump, right?"

I was a graduate recently at the University of Southern California.

Very similar to Harvard in a lot of ways.

I had to lie on papers in order to graduate, because professors would grade

me lower because of my opinion.

With all of that, and you saying how you think

diversity in ideology, in creed, in opinion is so

important on campus,

how, what experiences do you have that you can stand

on this stage and still tell us that you think that we don't

get discriminated against in academic settings in private universities that

have a monopoly of a lot of higher jud- higher education-

Mm-hmm

... that is mimicked with a lot of the

corporate world, a lot of the research

world, because we have graduates and professors from these universities

working in these same fields and giving us that same experience where

I'm

worried that people might even see this.

Mm-hmm.

If

a teacher marked you down, if a professor marked you down

because of their belief,

uh, that, you know, you, you know, you're a conservative or

voted for Donald Trump or whatever, uh, uh, you know, anything of that

ilk,

that was wrong. That was bad. Do I think that

that happens? Unfortunately, in your case, uh, y- yeah.

I, I think that happens. And to the extent that that happens,

that ought to be condemned, and we ought to be on guard about

it, and, you know,

that's a bad thing. I mean, that's, that's my response to you.

I-

And I think... I'm sorry?

I'm not the only one.

Mm.

I have friends at Harvard that experience the same thing.

No, this is your lived experience, and this is the thing, this

is why I wanted to-

To the e- to the extent that that happens, I mean, I'm

gonna be very clear about it, to the extent that that happens,

that's a bad thing.

I would condemn, I condemn it.

Um, yeah, I, I, I obviously agree. First off, before we get,

because I know you

were nervous about being seen. When I made the joke earlier about, uh,

how without

ladies, Harvard was a quieter place, did you laugh?

Yes.

Oh, okay, good.

And I don't just ask that for no reason, because the left has made

that joke more offensive than the practice that you're

describing. The joke about women are chatty.

That doesn't mean we hate you. It's a biological difference.

It's like saying boys are violent, right? It's silly.

That is a third rail for which people can be fired, the same

reason that you could be discriminated against and not hired because of your

political persuasion. And it's even worse for you, because

when you're looking at a

lot of HR, right, you have people combing through right now,

seeing if you think,

"My God, Lindsay Clancy was guilty." I don't think

that it's a small thing.

I think it happens a lot. I think that's the reason so many people

are here, and

I think something needs to be done about it. Like I said, no more litmus tests.

It shouldn't come up. And if we look at a place, an institution,

especially one that's publicly funded, and we see an imbalance that occurs

nowhere else in nature, not artificially enforce equity,

like DEI or affirmative action, but go with, okay, what

blockades, what discrimination is taking place here, that

we have no one of this political persuasion? I get it.

And I get that you're afraid, 'cause you know what?

Before I did this for a living, I lost my manager, I lost my agent,

persona

non grata. It's a real thing. That's why Andrew Breitbart

was kinda my mentor.

He was the only person who would run any of my stuff.

So at this point, what I will say, if this helps,

they're gonna figure it out no

matter what. If you have any social media, if you've written any- anything, if

you've talked at the salon. So let your freak flag fly and let the

chips fall where they may, because you gotta be yourself.

Even if the left tells you you can't.

I appreciate the bravery in standing up, too. I know that that's a real thing.