These folks are not satanists (or at least, not officially declared so). They claim to be a cultural studies club. Their ostensible claim is that they are studying cultural phenomenon. Are they sincere? From four hundred miles away, it's tough for me to tell.
Their actions are not “sanctioned” by the university. At most, the university might give them a room to use for their meetings. For this event, they're not even using free meeting space commonly available to practically all university student groups. They're RENTING space in a bar on campus.
But Harvard IS a university, and the exploration of things IS generally encouraged. These folks are not claiming to be holding a black mass, but rather, are claiming that they're going to run through what a black mass looks like, with running commentary and “historical context” (whatever that means). On the face of it, this meets the form of an intellectual enterprise.
I imagine Harvard is loathe to outright condemn something that has at least the veneer of an academic enterprise.
This is a touchy issue at Harvard. There are a lot of folks who are carrying the message of “academic justice” over academic freedom. There was an op-ed piece in the Crimson by an undergrad named Sandra Korn advocating that persons promoting viewpoints that are antithetical to the liberal view of things should be silenced. In her view (and the view of many like her), it is illegitimate for folks at universities to hold forth against homosexual rights and “marriage equality,” against “reproductive rights,” against affirmative action, global warming, etc.
It was heartening to see over 800 replies to her op-ed that ran about 19 to 1 against her view, and in favor of academic freedom, free speech, free expression, even of what someone might view as hateful speech or expression.
Harvard's record in this regard is hardly perfect, but it's not all that bad, both as an institution, and in terms of its culture. My son is a polite, well-mannered, pleasant, but plain-spoken conservative at Harvard. Even as an open, declared conservative, he is a writer for the main student newspaper, the Crimson. He is involved overtly in pro-life and pro-traditional marriage and morality organizations and movements. Institutionally, he experiences no bias from his professors, even though his conservative Catholicism is pretty much on daily display, even from his Old Left marxist former revolutionary professor (who likes to commiserate with my son about how terrible is the current occupant in the White House).
Socially, with other students, he experiences little negative bias. He's unusual to many, disconcerting to others, not their cup of tea for some, but he has a wide circle of friends who accept him and like him, even though he brings with some viewpoints that are somewhat checkered in their view. His last girlfriend was a very liberal, very politically-correct young lady who nonetheless wanted to marry him. This is hardly representative of a culture “showing itself to be an island that accommodates haters.”
But, this street goes both ways.
sitetest
So they just want to “demonstrate” degrading another religion if anyone’s curious what it looks like. :>)
I can hear the pride in your writing about your son. You should be. He sounds like a prize. Tell him one stubborn retired chaplain you know says that the Army (of my era) wouldn’t even have allowed a “demonstration” of what a degrading program would look like.
The reasons with the Army would have been (1)”morale and discipline” and (2)ethics/morality. It would have injured unity.
They have no such unity to preserve at Harvard, so that’s one thing. They do have a set of moral/ethical standards, though, and I’m betting this pushes them right up to the breaking point.