Suppression of Free Speech 'Convenient'

I am dismayed by the convenient suspension of “free speech” to suit a self-determined prejudice against its practice, however justified (News, “Poet Flap Drew Summers’ Input,” Nov. 14). One cannot have a polarized and politically determined segment of the society, even with a seeming righteousness, proscribe for the body politic—in this case, the whole social body of Harvard’s community—what is fit for their ears and what not. As a poet and teacher I protest entirely this self-ordained presumption of the right to suppress free speech in such a perverse proposal of its defense.

Robert W. Creeley ’47

Buffalo, N.Y.

Nov. 15, 2002

The writer is Capen professor of poetry and the humanities at SUNY-Buffalo.