Updated: Tuesday, December 10, 2024
What is the rule about protests in libraries?
On January 19, 2024, the President, the Provost, and the Deans of the University issued a Statement to the University community to address questions about how the guarantees and limitations regarding protest and dissent found in the University-wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities (USRR) apply in specific settings. They clarified:
Accordingly, unless a particular School makes an explicit exception, demonstrations and protests are ordinarily not permitted in classrooms and other spaces of instruction; libraries or other spaces designated for study, quiet reflection, and small group discussion; dormitories, residence halls, or dining halls where students live and take their meals; offices where the work of the University is carried out; or other places in which demonstrations and protests would interfere with the normal activities of the University.
What are the principles underlying this Statement?
As underscored in the USRR, we have all made the choice to join this academic community whose mission is dedicated to learning, teaching, research, and scholarship. The USRR explicitly aligns the right to protest and dissent alongside our responsibilities to one another as a community. Accordingly, in the January 19 Statement, reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on protests and demonstrations were implemented in order to appropriately strike this balance.
Whether an action is described as a protest or a demonstration or a study-in, a group activity — even a silent one — that is explicitly using a space to make a point is engaging in a demonstration or protest. When that occurs in a library, it is a violation of the USRR.
Even in instances when those participating in a demonstration read quietly, such group actions used spaces in a library to express a shared message and interfered with the room’s purpose as a place of study and research.
The Harvard Library Patron Agreement, which applies to all libraries and library facilities at Harvard and to all users of the Harvard libraries (students, faculty, staff, and other authorized users of the libraries), requires library users to respect Harvard’s policies regarding access to the libraries, including the USRR.
The University Librarian has shared her views on why even silent protests change the nature of a reading room in her October 24 essay.
How is the rule being communicated and upheld?
The rule was communicated community-wide in the January 19, 2024 Statement from University leaders. The USRR and Statement are posted to the Provost’s website and linked to from Harvard Library’s Policies page.
Those participating in protests inside libraries are notified that their actions are in violation of the USRR, either through posted signs and/or through handouts. Participants who, following notification, stop participating in the demonstration are not asked for their Harvard IDs. Only those continuing to participate in the demonstration are asked for their Harvard IDs.
To explicitly state, IDs are not requested based on the ideas or viewpoints being expressed by participants in the protest activity, rather it is based on a demonstration or protest taking place in the library space.
What consequences have been issued for violating the rule?
Protest participants have received a two-week revocation of access to the particular library building in which they demonstrated, retaining other library access and privileges, including all collections, services, and access to other Harvard libraries. The notifications were shared with participants’ deans.
The notifications to protest participants indicated individuals should reach out as needed and would receive accommodations to ensure that the temporary revocation of access would not interfere with their ability to perform their academic responsibilities.
Are there other places this kind of protest could have taken place?
Yes, there are many spaces available for protests and demonstrations on campus. For example, protests that have occurred on the steps of Widener Library were outside the library and did not violate University rules. Accordingly, no action was taken with respect to participants in those protests.