The Harvard University administration presented a damaging example to the students by terminating the faculty dean Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. As a professor at the law school and as a highly regarded litigator, Sullivan has demonstrated a profound commitment to the 6th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which grants those accused of crime the right to counsel. No matter how Harvard tries to present its rationale for this decision, it will be viewed everywhere as a reaction to Sullivan’s decision to represent Harvey Weinstein, an accused rapist.
In addition to representing prominent defendants such as New England Patriots star receiver Aaron Hernandez in a double murder case, in 2014 Sullivan became the head of the Conviction Review Unit of the Brooklyn, New York District Attorney’s office where he secured the freedom of numerous prisoners falsely accused of serious and often violent crimes.
A major failure of the criminal justice system is that the poor cannot afford quality representation. Now Harvard has decided to attack a litigator who defends the poor accused of horrendous crimes but also represents the affluent. This decision is little more than an indication of the university’s support of the Me Too Movement, no matter how they try to characterize it.
