Punk Band Pussy Riot Has a Problem with Harvard’s President

Image via Pussy Riot on Facebook/Harvard University’s Kennedy School

Nearly a month after their visit to Harvard’s Institute of Politics, where they sat down with a moderator and discussed human rights, feminism, and freedom of speech, members of the punk collective Pussy Riot penned an open letter to the school’s president, Drew Faust, asking her to change the university’s policies on how they handle acts of civil disobedience and protests on campus.

Masha Alekhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova, who came to Harvard on September 15, posted a lengthy request on the band’s Facebook page this week addressed directly to Faust, calling on the school to implement a due process for placing “no trespass” orders on people who flex their rights to free speech during school events, and roll out an appeals process within the community in the case that an order is handed down.

“We call on the Harvard administration to enter into a dialog with civil-society activists,” the band wrote to Faust. “After all, they and Harvard are pursuing the same goals: respect for human rights, peace, and education without borders.”

The request and letter to Faust stemmed from an incident that occurred when Pussy Right was here last month. Shortly after their talk at the Institute of Politics, the band members were headed to dinner with Harvard alum Roman Torgovitsky and others, when they were informed that Torgovitsky had been arrested by campus police for trespassing, and was transferred to the Cambridge Police Department for holding.

Torgovitsky was banned from Harvard’s campus for life last May, after he stormed the stage during a concert featuring violinist Vladimir T. Spivakov at the school’s Sanders Theater. It was at that concert that Torgovitsky delivered a brief speech that blasted Spivakov for the musician’s support of some of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies.

Following his arrest for returning to the school in September, Alekhina, Tolokonnikova, and a handful of supporters occupied the foyer of the Cambridge Police Department’s headquarters until Torgovitsky was released.

Now, Pussy Riot is asking Harvard to change their policies, and specifically dissolve Torgovitsky’s ban on school grounds. “It is disconcerting that Harvard University has a policy of banning some of Harvard alums engaged in non-violent civil disobedience and political protest on campus without any due process,” the band wrote. “We hope that the prosecution of Roman Torgovitsky for attending our lecture will be halted. We would like to respectfully ask Harvard administration to lift the no-trespass order imposed on Roman Torgovitsky for life for the non-violent, peaceful expression of his opinion.”

In a separate incident in May, a group of Harvard alumni were also banned from school grounds after they interrupted an event led by Faust by holding up a large banner demanding the school divest from fossil fuel companies.