of the First Amendment, not now, not ever." Peretz also said that his comment that "Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims" was "a statement of fact, not of value" and pointed out that Kristof himself agreed that Muslims have not adequately condemned violence perpetrated by Muslims on fellow Muslims. Kristof responded by criticizing Peretz for falsely claiming that Kristof agreed with him, and also for continuing to generalize that all Muslims had the attitude of Muslim terrorists toward human life: On September 17, 2010, Peretz issued yet another apology: On September 20, 2010, five major Harvard student organizations, citing Peretz's long "history of making terribly racist statements" urged Harvard not to go ahead with honors planned for Peretz. The organizations—the Harvard Islamic Society, Latinas Unidas, and the Harvard Black Students Association—asserted that Peretz over the course of more than a decade had not only made racist comments against Muslims, but also regarding African Americans and Mexicans. Also following the controversy, Harvard University canceled Peretz's scheduled September 25 speech on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Harvard's Social Studies Department where Peretz once taught. The Atlantic'''s James Fallows summarized Peretz's reputation, concluding that if his legacy were settled that day, despite being "beloved by many students and respected by some magazine colleagues", in his 70s he would be considered a bigot. Fallows also wrote: "Martin Peretz has been undeniably shamed. And lastingly shamed." Marc Tracy wrote in the Jewish magazine The Tablet: [I]f you will—this is not the first time he has written something racist, and it isn't the fifteenth time, either... But the tonnage of these quotations and the consistency of their content demonstrate that Peretz's insensitivity and bigotry toward Muslims and Arabs (er, and black people) yank him out of the realm of people you should be reading on the subject. Jefferson Morley, a Peretz friend, who worked at The New Republic from 1983 to 1987, told Jack Shafer of Slate, "I could never reconcile this intellectual strength with his racism and unpleasant attempts to play the bully." Allegations of gender bias in hiring practices In January 2015, The New Republic, after having been purchased by a new owner, Chris Hughes, published a long, detailed report on the magazine's history of alleged racism. The article, by journalist Jeet Heer, also alleged that during Peretz's tenure as owner of The New Republic, women were rarely if ever