letter from Steven Pinker

I thought this letter from Steven Pinker might be of interest to readers. I have several more like it.

STEVEN PINKER

Harvard College Professor

Johnstone Family Professor

Professor Edwin Ervin

Department of Philosophy

University of Miami

Miami, FL

June 13, 2013

Dear Professor Ervin, 

I join you and other scholars, writers, and activists in protesting the threat of dismissal

of a brilliant and distinguished scholar, Colin McGinn, from the University of Miami for

apparently nothing more serious than exchanging sexual banter with a graduate

student. Even if the University had a clear policy that regulated communications

between professor and student, the punishment is ludicrously disproportionate to the

alleged offense. As well as harming the reputation and intellectual quality of the

University of Miami, such an action would put a chill on communication between

faculty and graduate students and on the openness and informality on which

scholarship depends.

If the dismissal proceeds, I will certainly bring it up with the Foundation for Individual

Rights in Education, on whose advisory board I sit.

Feel free to circulate this letter, and to add my name to any list of McGinn’s supporters.

Sincerely,

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

HARVARD UNIVERSITY