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The editor of a conservative magazine run by Harvard University students reportedly announced that the outlet would continue publishing despite being suspended by its board of directors for publishing “reprehensible” material. The Harvard Salient’s Editor-in-Chief Richard Y. Rodgers, in an email to the magazine’s mailing list, said the publication’s suspension was an “unauthorized usurpation of power by a small number of individuals acting outside the bounds of their authority,” The Harvard Crimson reported. The Salient is independent from Harvard University and is dedicated to publishing conservative thought, according to its website. The publication’s current board members consist of six Harvard alumni and former Salient presidents and four current professors as ex-officio members. The publication’s board of directors said in a statement that the magazine published content “wholly inimical to the conservative principles for which the magazine stands,” and said it would suspend the magazine pending an investigation and review. The board’s statement did not specify the material it deemed “abusive” and “demeaning,” but also said it received complaints about the Salient’s culture. Naomi Schaefer Riley, director of the Salient’s board, declined to comment Tuesday night, and other members of the board of directors did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “This action was taken without notice to or consent from the duly appointed leadership of the organization and in direct violation of the bylaws governing The Harvard Salient,” the Crimson reported Rodgers wrote. “The Harvard Salient continues to operate under its legitimate editorial leadership until further notice.” The magazine stirred up controversy with an article in its September issue that included a line mirroring a line from a speech Adolf Hitler gave in 1939 and a line that prompted comparisons to the Nazi slogan “blood and soil,” with the writer advocating for values rooted in “blood, soil, language, and love of one’s own,” the Crimson reported. In a separate article, Rodgers said the piece’s writer and editor did not intend to quote Hitler. Rodgers told the Crimson Tuesday that the Salient’s board members should “consider resigning their posts in order to allow the organization a chance to rebuild in good faith.” Rodgers also told the Crimson that the board allegedly did not follow the protocol for holding a meeting, making the suspension illegitimate. Rodgers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
