Citing University’s Commitment to Free Speech, Faust Says ‘Abhorrent’ Black Mass Will Not Be Barred

University President Drew G. Faust said in a statement earlier this morning that she affirms the right of the Harvard Extension School Cultural Studies Club to host a Satanic event involving a demonstration of “Black Mass” this evening, but strongly disagrees with the club’s decision to hold it.

Faust added herself to the long list of people condemning the event, including members from the Archdiocese of Boston, Harvard Chaplains, student religious groups, and many alumni and students on campus. The event is still slated to take place this evening at Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub in the basement of Memorial Hall at 8:30 p.m.

“The decision by a student club to sponsor an enactment of this ritual is abhorrent; it represents a fundamental affront to the values of inclusion, belonging and mutual respect that must define our community,” Faust wrote. “It is deeply regrettable that the organizers of this event, well aware of the offense they are causing so many others, have chosen to proceed with a form of expression that is so flagrantly disrespectful and inflammatory.”

Still, Faust wrote, allowing the event to proceed is “consistent with the University’s commitment to free expression, including expression that may deeply offend us, the decision to proceed is and will remain theirs.”...