The Truth Will Eventually Set You Free – Roland G. Fryer Jr. and Harvard University

Socrates Drinking Hemlock

When the facts and the dominant narrative are misaligned and you decide to point to the facts – you, my friend, are unfortunately in trouble.  This is a story about a brave man – Roland G. Fryer Jr. and his struggles with Harvard when he decided to publish his research.  Here is what his research found in his study entitled: An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force

“This paper explores racial differences in police use of force. On non-lethal uses of force, blacks and Hispanics are more than fifty percent more likely to experience some form of force in interactions with police. Adding controls that account for important context and civilian behavior reduces, but cannot fully explain, these disparities. On the most extreme use of force – officer-involved shootings – we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account. We argue that the patterns in the data are consistent with a model in which police officers are utility maximizers, a fraction of which have a preference for discrimination, who incur relatively high expected costs of officer-involved shootings.” 

Now – let’s take a look at a 3 minute video showing some of what happens next.

The statement I want to focus on in that video was: “People lose their mind when they don’t like the result.”  Truer words were never spoken!  The first line of this blog was: “When the facts and the dominant narrative are misaligned and you decide to point to the facts – you, my friend, are unfortunately in trouble.”  

What type of trouble was Roland about to experience?  He told us that he needed security for the next 30 – 40 days after the research was published.  He even needed security to go out and buy diapers for his newborn daughter!  That seems like a great deal of trouble, wouldn’t you agree?  That unfortunately, was only the start.  

Roland Fryer Jr. was the youngest Black faculty member to receive tenure at Harvard University.  He became a tenured professor at the age of 30 – his future was very bright!  So what happened to Dr. Fryer next?  

This excerpt was from a story published in The Washington Post by Susan Svrluga on July 10, 2019.

Harvard University is suspending a noted economist and shutting down his lab after a university investigation found that he allegedly engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct that created a hostile work environment.

Roland Fryer Jr. — a professor of economics, the founding director of the Education Innovation Laboratory known as EdLabs and a recipient of a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship — will be placed on unpaid administrative leave for two years, according to university officials.

So… let’s examine the timeline.

He was tenured by Harvard in 2007 at the age of 30. This honor made Dr. Fryer the youngest Black professor to be tenured at Harvard.

In 2008 The Economist listed Dr. Fryer as one of the top 8 economists in the world.

In 2009, Dr. Fryer establishes the Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard.

In 2011 Fryer was the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship which is commonly referred to as the “Genius Grant”.

In July of 2017 he publishes: An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force. He was advised by colleagues that publishing the report may cause him some problems. Dr. Fryer decides to publish the findings anyway. Dr. Fryer receives threatening emails/texts and needs security to ensure his safety.

After disregarding colleagues suggestions to not publish his findings, he is investigated by Harvard and found guilty of creating a hostile workplace environment at the Education Innovation Laboratory.

In 2019, two years after the findings were published and 12 years after being tenured, he is dismissed without pay for unwelcome sexual conduct and creating a hostile workplace environment.

What a shocker – what a fall from grace!   Just imagine, a Harvard professor that reports the results of his research which might make some people less than comfortable is relieved of his duties without pay for two years. Call me crazy – but for me, this does not pass the “smell” test.

The Washington Post goes on to report the following:

In an open apology letter published in the New York Times in December 2018, Fryer wrote that EdLabs “has always been a collegial and at times irreverent place. Lab employees, male and female, have on occasion made off-color jokes and commented on one another’s lives outside of work, including their dating lives. As the faculty director of the lab, I allowed, encouraged and participated in this atmosphere. In that, I was wrong.” He apologized to anyone who worked there and may have felt alienated or offended.

As Paul Harvey would say – “And now for the rest of the story.”  

Dr. Fryer has been reinstated to the faculty of Harvard.  I suspect he has learned his lesson – but I sincerely hope not!  Speaking and publishing the truth should never be an issue – just ask: Socrates, Galileo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi and Rosa Parks (just to name a few).

Thanks, Tom

P.S. If you found this blog interesting and want some additional information, visit the following site: https://quillette.com/2022/04/15/why-did-harvard-university-go-after-one-of-its-best-black-professors/

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