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A letter signed by more than 30 student groups at Harvard after the world woke to images of a mass attack by Hamas on civilians in Israel, including hundreds of young people at a music festival has sparked backlash from the likes of investor Bill Ackman and former university President Larry Summers.
The “events did not occur in a vacuum,” the students wrote, laying sole responsibility for the violence on Israel.
Summers said on social media that he was “sickened” by the failure of the university to condemn “terrorist attacks,” and contrasted the position Harvard had taken to other events, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police.
Hours later, Harvard President Claudine Gay and other university leadership issued a letter titled “War in the Middle East.” It spoke of the “death and destruction unleashed by the attack by Hamas that targeted citizens in Israel this weekend, and by the war in Israel and Gaza now under way,” but didn’t address the students’ views.
That, in turn, spawned even more criticism.
Jason Furman, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School and a former top economic advisor in the Obama Administration, wrote on X that he felt compelled to speak up.
“Acknowledging that killing hundreds of innocents is wrong should be an easy place to start,” Furman said in a post.
Our President Claudine Gay & school leaders have asked us to "foster… an environment of dialogue & empathy, appealing to one another’s thoughtfulness & goodwill". I hope to help. Acknowledging that killing hundreds of innocents is wrong should be an easy place to start. pic.twitter.com/vzuOBXFz1M
— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) October 10, 2023
Tensions around Israel and Palestine have been increasing on campuses across the US, including at Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania and University of California, Berkeley.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, a vocal segment of US student groups and faculty with anti-Israel and anti-Zionist views have grown in prominence.
At New York University, law school dean Troy McKenzie issued a statement saying a message from the president of the Student Bar Association — which also laid blame on Israel — doesn’t speak for the institution’s leadership.
“It certainly does not express my own views, because I condemn the killing of civilians and acts of terrorism as always reprehensible,” McKenzie said.
Law firm Winston & Strawn rescinded an employment offer to the student, who was previously a summer associate, after learning of their “inflammatory” comments.
A group of Harvard organizations, including Hillel — the school’s Jewish center — and the Ice Hockey Club, signed a petition urging the university to denounce Hamas’ actions. By Tuesday, it had more than 3,000 signatures.
Harvard President Gay then released another statement on Tuesday, in which she explicitly decried the attack and addressed the student letter.
“As the events of recent days continue to reverberate, let there be no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas,” Gay said. “Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region.”
“Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership,” she said.
Some want Harvard to go further.
Ackman — a Harvard alum — said in a post on X that he’s been asked if the university would release a list of the members of the groups that issued the student letter so that employers can avoid hiring them.
I have been asked by a number of CEOs if @harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their… https://t.co/7kzGOAGwp9
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) October 10, 2023
“One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists,” Ackman said.
The Harvard Crimson reported that, as of Tuesday night, at least five of the original 34 groups that signed the controversial letter have withdrawn their support for it.