Harvard's Secret Court
Subtitle: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: September 22, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780312322717
Subjects: History: American; Students; Higher; U.S. History - 20th Century (General); United States - 20th Century; Education / Teaching; Philosophy & Social Aspects; Massachusetts; History; Gay Studies; Social Science / Gay Studies; Discrimination in higher education; 20th century; Cambridge; Gay college students; Gays in higher education; Harvard University
Description: In 2002, a researcher for The Harvard Crimson came across a restricted archive labeled "Secret Court Files, 1920." The mystery he uncovered involved a tragic scandal in which Harvard University secretly put a dozen students on trial for homosexuality and then systematically and persistently tried to ruin their lives. In May of 1920, a freshman suspended from Harvard committed suicide. The note he left behind revealed his secret life as part of a circle of homosexual students. The resulting witch hunt remains one of the most shameful episodes in the history of America's premier university: Harvard conducted its investigation in secrecy. Several students committed suicide; others were subjected to an ongoing effort on the part of Harvard to destroy their reputations. This book is an indictment of the human toll of intolerance and the horrors of injustice that can result when a powerful institution loses its balance.--From publisher description.