Political Beliefs Violate College Honor Code

A free speech organization, FIRE, reports:

At Haverford College, a recent amendment to the school’s Social Honor Code means students could be subject to punishment if other students determine they’ve committed an “act of … microaggression.” The amendment also states that students must be respectful of “community standards” when expressing “political opinions,” and that “political beliefs [that] perpetuate discrimination,” or that are used to “justify disrespectful or discriminatory words,” violate the Code.

A example of a microaggression would be one student asking another, "Where are you from?"

Haverford is a private college near Philadelphia. It costs $70k or so per year, like other private colleges. It has a female president.

The new code also says:

As the Social Honor Code applies to all of our interactions at Haverford, engagement in political discourse falls within its jurisdiction, and political beliefs may not be used to excuse behavior that violates the Code. If we find that our political beliefs perpetuate discrimination, we are obligated to re-evaluate them as we would any of our beliefs that perpetuate discrimination.

[C]onfronted students weaponizing the Code’s expectation of respect in order to silence and/or invalidate the experiences of harmed parties — including invalidating experiences of harm by claiming discrimination against a privileged identity (e.g., claims of reverse-racism) or refusing to reflect on their actions — is a violation of the Code. Using one’s political beliefs to justify disrespectful or discriminatory words or actions is also a violation of the Code.

So you violate the Honor Code if you support Trump, agree with the lawsuit saying that Harvard discriminates against Chinese, say George Floyd died of a drug overdose, or oppose affirmative action quotas.

Maybe even showing an American Flag will be a violation.

Note that the Code targets "beliefs". If you stand up for the Flag, and someone considers that disrespectful and asks for an explanation, and you cite your patriotic political beliefs, then you have violated the Honor Code.

To make it clear that Haverford is trying to be the new thought police, "refusing to reflect on their actions" is a violation. That is, an accused student will have to be re-educated, repudiate his beliefs, and apologize, or else he will be refusing to reflect.