Universities Are ‘Propaganda Mills,’ Teach a ‘New McCarthyism’: Former Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz

This will impact generations of leaders, he says

Alan Dershowitz speaks at The Epoch Times' Defending the Constitution event in New York City, on July 19, 2021. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz became extremely unpopular with the progressive left when he joined former President Donald Trump’s defense team in 2020 because he placed principles before partisanship, he believes. “Utterly unprincipled partisanship” has taken over, Dershowitz says, which will have a lasting detrimental effect on our nation.

“I think this trend toward the new McCarthyism on the hard left is going to be enduring because it’s being taught in universities today, to our future leaders,” Dershowitz said during an interview with EpochTV’s American Thought Leaders that will premiere Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Despite having been a highly influential law professor at Harvard University for 50 years, he never brought partisanship into his teaching, he said.

“I never once expressed a personal point of view in class. I taught the students how to think, not what to think. And today, classrooms are propaganda mills, and [students] are our future leaders,” said Dershowitz.

The Epoch Times reached out to Harvard University for comment.

In his new book, “The Price of Principle,” Dershowitz discusses what motivates him to follow the founding principles of the rule of law and due process instead of partisanship, despite the onslaught of accusations he receives.

He has often represented people hated by the public, including sex offender billionaire Harvey Weinstein and ex-football player O.J. Simpson, because he believes fiercely in the rule of law.

Law professor Alan Dershowitz at the White House in Washington on Jan. 28, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Following American Legal Tradition

The three principles Dershowitz adheres to are freedom of expression and conscience; due process, fundamental fairness, and the adversary system of seeking justice; and basic equality and meritocracy.

“It’s the essence of our system, and yet it’s very unpopular,” said Dershowitz.

Dershowitz’s strong adherence to principles over politics often gets him criticism, and people tell him they don’t like him.

“You were wrong ever to respect me or like me. I was never on your side. I was on the side of due process and justice and civil liberties,” said Dershowitz.

He noted that people of religious affiliations are now the targets of the left and its abuse of the legal system.

“Today, the victims of due process and civil liberties often are Republicans, conservatives, Christians, Jews, people who are not popular with the woke generation,” said Dershowitz.

He does not personally like Trump and did not vote for him, but said, “I don’t want to see the laws applied against [Trump].”

However, many on the left are trying to get laws applied as they see fit to “get Trump,” Dershowitz said.

Protesters gather at the police line on the west side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Special to The Epoch Times

‘Get Trump’

Many civil libertarians want to expand criminal laws, like the Espionage Act of 1970, and apply them broadly to prosecute Trump and the Jan. 6 prisoners, Dershowitz told American Thought Leaders.

What happened on Jan. 6 was wrong and people who committed crimes should stand fair trials, Dershowitz said, “but don’t overreact by keeping people in prison for months without a trial and charging them as some people [on the left] want to do with sedition.

“My former colleague, Laurence Tribe, has suggested that [Attorney General Merrick Garland] should prosecute Donald Trump for attempting to murder Vice President Pence. ... What would that do to the rule of law?” said Dershowitz.

There is no such law that would apply to Trump, Dershowitz added.

“[Tribe] is making it up, but he’s willing to make it up if it’s part of ‘get Trump.’”

No Tolerance for You

Dershowitz said while he often agrees with liberals’ “substantive points of view,” he does not agree with the means they use.

“They don’t care about means. They think the ends justify the means, their utopia is going to be achieved,” said Dershowitz. The left has started to believe you don’t need free speech or due process, he added.

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“Why do you need free speech if you know the truth with a capital ‘T’? What do you need due process [for] if you already know that a man who was accused by a woman of course is guilty? Why do we need to have a trial?” said Dershowitz.

Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979), a German-born American philosopher and radical political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Keystone/Getty Images

Dershowitz agreed that the left has been heavily influenced by Herbert Marcuse, a German-American philosopher and political theorist associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory, who advocated for “liberating tolerance,” which consists of intolerance of right-wing movements and toleration of left-wing movements.

“[Marcuse’s philosophy] is interesting because although it grew out of anti-Nazism, it turned into its own form of fascism, so Marcuse was kind of the godfather of the woke repressionist movement,” said Dershowitz.

In the essay “Repressive Tolerance,” Marcuse wrote, “Conversely, what is proclaimed and practiced as tolerance today, is in many of its most effective manifestations serving the cause of oppression.”

“How dare they call themselves progressives,” Dershowitz said. “They are regressives. They are reactionaries. They are repressors. They want to stop due process and free speech and equal protection.”

Further the Narrative

The killing of George Floyd by the police may well be the most significant event in the 21st century, which has since transformed American corporations, media, and universities, said Dershowitz.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on his racial equity agenda in the State Dining Room of the White House on Jan. 26, 2021. Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images

Following the death of Floyd, the federal government, media, corporations, and universities have taken up a “social justice” agenda like diversity, equity, and inclusion training and quotas in full force, to achieve “racial justice” and “fairness.”

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“I think left, radical people, from the communists in the 1930s and ‘40s to today’s woke generation, look for opportunities, they find events, and therefore they can use it to project their narrative and to project their agenda,” Dershowitz said.

The left, including the Biden administration, has declared the United States “systemically racist,” but Dershowitz disagrees.

“We are not a systemically racist country. We’re a systemically anti-racist country,” he said.

The left’s attempt to solve racism and give an advantage to one group is disadvantaging others, Dershowitz said. “Look at the Harvard case. Who’s suing Harvard? Asian students, because they’re being discriminated against because of quotas for black students.”

Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) has a lawsuit against Harvard University alleging it treats white and Asian-American students with stricter admissions standards—a practice some call reverse discrimination. The case will be heard by the Supreme Court in October.

“Harvard College does not discriminate against applicants from any group in its admissions processes. We will continue to vigorously defend the right of Harvard, and other colleges and universities, … create a campus community that gives each student the opportunity to learn from peers with a wide variety of academic interests, perspectives, and talents,” a statement on the university’s website reads.

“And the result is not equality. The result is to introduce a new kind of inequality and an anti-meritocratic approach,” said Dershowitz.