Harvard brass mum as rival schools denounce political violence after series of professor blunders

EXCLUSIVE: Mired in controversy over the past week after it was revealed that the school hosted a panel weighing the merits of political violence, Harvard University has several times ignored opportunities to condemn it. 

The Ivy League school has been under the microscope after it was reported that its Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights hosted a panel in early 2018 where a guest lecturer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made his case for potential armed political violence. Three Harvard faculty members participated in the panel. 

Since then, Fox News Digital has asked Harvard multiple times whether it condemns political violence. Those requests have all gone unreturned. 

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UNC Professor Dwayne Dixon led the panel called "You Don't Stand Around and Let People Get Hurt: Antifascism After Charlottesville" in February 2018. 

Dixon was then a member of Redneck Revolt, an offshoot of the far-left John Brown Gun Club, which, amid last week's controversy, announced it had shut down in 2019. 

He described the "far-right" as "filled with murderous rage," though he never clearly defined the term "far-right." 

During his speech, Dixon framed armed political action in the United States in 2018 in the context of the era of American slavery, when violent means were used to achieve political goals. 

Describing famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Dixon said, "He saw no hope that slavery would ever be abolished by moral or political means."

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"Douglass is not a victim of some faint-hearted anxiety about the use of force to free slaves and to dispatch those who would threaten their freedom or their lives," he said. "He plainly says the system must be met with its own weapons."

Three Harvard faculty members - education professor Timothy McCarthy, professor of American history and African American studies Vincent Brown and American history professor Lisa McGirr - listened intently to Dixon. 

McCarthy invoked President Donald Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence in the context of "fascism," saying that LGBTQ people have "a sense, perhaps quite real, that we are indeed at war and that this is a different kind of phase of war that is more specific, more linked to domestic insurgency of White supremacy, the rise of that, a fascist state under the Trump-Pence regime."

He also referred to the political climate as an "emergent fascist moment with all the signs of that from history that if we're paying attention," and concluded that "this may indeed be a moment that calls for a more robust integration of tactics and strategies that include both violence and nonviolence."

McGirr fawned over Dixon's presentation.

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"This was a beautiful, brilliant, wonderful, very convincing talk. So, you know, I actually came in here relatively skeptical about your use of, you know, coming armed to Charlottesville and what happened in North Carolina," she said. "And, at the end, I'm kind of convinced, actually, you know, that there is a place for this."

Brown, meanwhile, openly suggested that political violence was an obvious solution in a statement that drew laughs from the audience. 

"Many of you are aware of the ongoing vigorous debate over whether it's OK to punch a Nazi. I personally happen to believe that the ethical question was settled by WWII and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,'" he said in his introduction. 

"All four of [the panel members] are committed to study, interpretation and reasoned debate, but are well aware that deliberation might have distinct limits in the face of opponents who would prefer to see us eliminated," he continued. 

When UNC officials were made aware of Dixon's involvement with Redneck Revolt and the panel, the school immediately condemned political violence. 

"The University continues to reaffirm its commitment to rigorous debate, respectful engagement and open dialogue in support of free speech," university spokesman Dean Stoyer told Fox News Digital. "There is no place for or tolerance of inciting or extending sympathy toward violence of any kind within the UNC community."

Harvard refused to follow suit. 

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Earlier this week, Fox News Digital reported that a University of Chicago faculty member was arrested for felony aggravated battery and misdemeanor obstruction/resisting charges stemming from an anti-ICE rally Oct. 3.

Associate Professor Eman Abdelhadi, a known entity in the far-left activism world, was taken into custody that day. 

In the wake of the violent charges against her, the University of Chicago also condemned violence. 

"Safety is a paramount concern at the University of Chicago. Violence runs contrary to the university's core values of free and open inquiry, dialogue and debate," a school spokesman said. "The university promptly looks into any safety concerns, and takes action if necessary to uphold the safety of the university community." 

Harvard has an institutional neutrality policy, borne out of an "Institutional Voice Working Group" and a subsequent report. It was implemented last year and forbids the school from making specific comments on anything. 

The report says that the "university and its leaders should not, however, issue official statements about public matters that do not directly affect the university's core function."

The report mentions violence in passing. 

"The University places special emphasis, as well, upon certain values which are essential to its nature as an academic community. Among these are freedom of speech and academic freedom, freedom from personal force and violence, and freedom of movement. Interference with any of these freedoms must be regarded as a serious violation of the personal rights upon which the community is based."

Harvard did not return a request for comment Thursday.