US: Afters a furious dispute at Harvard over free speech, a cancelled lecture by Irish poet Tom Paulin has been tentatively re-scheduled for next spring, writes Conor O'Clery, North America Editor
The English faculty at Harvard University had invited the Liverpool-born poet to deliver the prestigious Morris Gray lecture on Thursday last, but withdrew the invitation after protests on campus over his reported anti-Israeli comments. This caused a furore and on Tuesday the whole faculty discussed the matter before voting to renew the invitation to Paulin, who lectures at Oxford but is a currently teaching at Columbia University in New York.
The remarks that sparked the affair included a reference in a poem to the Israeli Army as a "Zionist SS", and his description in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram that Brooklyn-born Jews living in Israeli settlements were "Nazis" and "racists" who "should be shot dead".
Paulin, who was brought up in Belfast, said in April that his views had been distorted and that he did not support attacks on Israeli civilians. Paulin has in the past criticised anti-semitism in other artists, including Degas and TS Elliot. "Free speech was a principle that needed upholding here," English professor Peter Sacks said after Tuesday's meeting.
Among those who objected to Paulin's reading was Harvard President Lawrence Summers. Harvard professors said the lecture could be held in the spring after further discussions with Paulin. Students in Jewish organisations at Harvard said they planned to protest.