Dean Was “Kissing the Feet of Zionist Power,” Harvard Scholar’s Account Contended

Plus, Schumer faults “wealthy, out-of-touch” Republicans

A Palestinian flag flies from a Harvard University house.

Social media posts from accounts apparently of Harvard faculty and staff call Jews “the most powerful people on the planet,” accuse Harvard administrators of “kissing the feet of Zionist power,” and assert, “any academic who supports Israel, drown in shame forever.” Another contends that she “cannot understand” and “cannot forgive” colleagues who “support the crimes of Israel.”

The social media posts, which appear to be by some of those who signed a “statement by Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine,” are included in a 88-page Harvard student complaint dated March 24, 2024, a copy of which has been obtained by The Editors. The complaint said the posts violate Harvard’s non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies and “other Harvard norms by promoting discrimination against Jewish and Israeli Harvard affiliates and against those with different political beliefs.”

The Harvard Office for Equity Diversity Inclusion and Belonging replied to the student that “we will review your concerns and take any appropriate action,” but it also referred the student to lower-level Harvard bureaucrats and cautioned that any “formal complaint” would require the identity of the complainant to be disclosed to the respondent, suggesting that it wasn’t treating the complaint as a formal complaint.

News of the complaint and of the social media posts comes as Harvard faces a threat of disruptive protests from anti-Israel activists at its commencement Thursday. The university’s interim president, Alan Garber, while attempting to please both pro-Israel and anti-Israel factions, has managed to leave both sides feeling betrayed, in some ways similar to President Biden.

The university’s official Jewish alumni group, the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance, wrote to the administration to complain that anti-Israel protesters were being treated with “leniency, supported by legalese, that would not have been afforded transgressors against any other university community.”  

“Scores of students, faculty, and administrators appear to be getting a free pass/slap on the wrist for behavior that would result in immediate administrative action including expulsion were any other minority or ethnic group targeted,” the HJAA board statement said. “This episode looks like a continuation of massive moral failure on the part of the university.”

A former Harvard president, Lawrence Summers, says “substantial change” in the membership and procedures of Harvard’s governing Corporation are needed, given what he calls the “failure” and a “double standard between anti-semitism and other forms of prejudice.”

The “statement by Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine” contends, “As a group, we advocate for the right to freely teach and discuss the interlocking systems of oppression underpinned by militarism, settler colonialism, and racial capitalism.”