Harvard students are invited to sign a kindness pledge

[parent57]

All Harvard students are requested to sign a kindness pledge:

“At Commencement, the Dean of Harvard College announces to the President, Fellows, and Overseers that ‘each degree candidate stands ready to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve society.’ That message serves as a kind of moral compass for the education Harvard College imparts. In the classroom, in extracurricular endeavors, and in the Yard and Houses, students are expected to act with integrity, respect, and industry, and to sustain a community characterized by inclusiveness and civility."

The names of the students in the entryway are printed below the pledge, and the students are to sign by their names. The document is to be framed and hung in the entryway throughout the year.


Gordon Mckay, a Professor of Computer Science, objects to the pledge because he thinks it may stifle free speech and the free exercise of learning, questioning or criticizing.

"On the face of it the pledge is so benign that one might reasonably accuse me of making a mountain out of a molehill. But the right to be annoying is precious, as is the right to think unkind thoughts. Harvard should not condone the sacrifice of rights to speech and thought simply because they can be inconvenient in a residential college."

Do you think students should sign a kindness pledge, or for that matter any kind of pledge or covenant?

Harvard Pledge Values ?Kindness? Over Learning: Virginia Postrel - Bloomberg

[wayneandgarth]

I think it would be nice of them to sign

[toblin]

No doubt there will consensuses for anyone who does not sign. (place the irony icon here)

[menloparkmom]

sure! some colleges require students to sign honor pledges.

[eastcoascrazy]

Can you imagine what would happen if CC required all posters to sign a kindness pledge?!

[ProudMomofS]

It is possible for intellectual debate to occur openly and freely without rancor. Disagreeing without being disagreeable is a reasonable request. I have no problems whatsoever with the request. But it is only meaningful if acted upon consistently and not a mere ceremonial act.

[parent56]

when we visited Rhodes college... they have a ceremony and signing of the honors pledge each year...it is then framed ... i thought it was a very nice tradition.

[Wildwood11]

To me it seems a little patronizing. I think the ideals aspired to should go without saying and already be ingrained in any Harvard student as they seem to screen applicants in search of those values.

An academic honesty pledge is different as it serves as a contract and has real consequences if broken.

[parent1986]

The Dalai Lama lectured at Harvard at least twice (I have a book of one of a series of lectures he gave) and his replacement Lobsang Songay, has a master's and law degree from Harvard. Where some of the emphasis on kindness may come. Boston has other Buddhist centers that also probably influence.

[limabeans]

I happened to flip from reading the post, One Sad Story" about a girl who stabbed her roommate after a spat. I sure think these two threads go hand-in-hand. Okay, the stabbing took place at a college in Baltimore and not at Harvard, but the message could apply at any college. The pledge doesn't ask students to give up their passion or ideals, but to listen with integrity and respect.

“At Commencement, the Dean of Harvard College announces to the President, Fellows, and Overseers that ‘each degree candidate stands ready to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve society.’ That message serves as a kind of moral compass for the education Harvard College imparts. In the classroom, in extracurricular endeavors, and in the Yard and Houses, students are expected to act with integrity, respect, and industry, and to sustain a community characterized by inclusiveness and civility."

One sad story!

[NJSue]

A kindness pledge is too vague. An honor code proscribes certain concrete forms of dishonest behavior. I don't see the two as comparable at all.

This pledge does seem very elementary. You would think that all of these very bright, accomplished kids would know some basic etiquette, such as "don't call people names."

[ProudMomofS]

I'd like to think a kindness pledge is unwarranted. I really would. But in remembering the very sad incident last year at Rutgers, I'm reminded that civility and kindess is not guaranteed.

I absolutely agree that a simple pledge is ceremonial unless it is backed up by policy and avenues of enforcement. With a characteristic more individually interpreted such as "kindness", no doubt you can enter gray zones of varying interpretation. Perhaps easier said than done, I would think. I wonder if a student body working with faculty could not find concrete examples of what is acceptable behavior--and unacceptable behavior--for a campus to strive toward and work to make the pledge something with more substance/meat to it? Otherwise its worth less than the paper its written on.

[robyrm2]

For those who are not naturally inclined to be kind, I highly doubt that signing a pledge will make a lick of difference. For those inclined to be kind, the thought of signing a pledge to say "I will be kind" would seem absurd.... kind of like pledging to breath.

Foolishness and irrelevant. Everyone knows that it is never a matter of what you say (or pledge to), it is a matter of what you do.

[ProudMomofS]

Robyrm, respect your opinions/thoughts. Do you view the validity of a kindness pledge in a different vein than a pledge not to cheat?

[cobrat]

It is a bad combination of vague touchy-feely ideals with some totalitarian touches(publicly displaying who signed and who didn't???).

Sorry, but I share the CS prof's fear that this pledge could potentially be used as a bludgeoning tool to discourage and even silent those who express dissenting opinions. Especially when the student who is reporting the "offender" is doing so because he/she cannot tolerate anyone who goes by the beat of their own drum and is passionate about it and/or someone who is trying to score points at another student's expense.

Considering how some of the wording is very 1984esque based on my studies of various fascistic and communist societies and some supporting posters are going so far as advocating "enforcement mechanisms" for a document so vaguely worded.....there's a saying about the laws of unintended consequences....

I also agree it is patronizing. We're talking young adults here who are legally responsible for their own behavior....and should be held to that expectation......not adolescent minors who still need to be led everywhere by a parental figure/institution. If this pledge was foisted upon me when I was a 17 year old freshman, I'd refuse to sign it on principle.