More than 1,600 Harvard alumni are saying they will withhold donations to the Ivy League university unless school leadership takes swift action to address antisemitism on campus.
“We never thought that, at Harvard University, we would have to argue the point that terrorism against civilians demands immediate and unequivocal condemnation. We never thought we would have to argue for recognition of our own humanity,” the Harvard College Jewish Alumni Association (HCJAA) said in an open letter to President Claudine Gay and Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana.
Cambridge, MA – December 15: Claudine Gay speaks to the crowd after being named Harvard Universitys next president. (Photo by Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Supporters of Palestine gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 2023. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
The HCJAA, which says it is the first Jewish alumni association in the history of Harvard’s history, was created last month following the university’s response to the October 7 attacks on Israel, and to its student groups that issued a pro-terror letter in reaction to the attacks.
The alumni group said the massacre of Jews in Israel by Hamas “were met with acclaim by over thirty Harvard student groups, who called the intentional slaughter of civilians ‘justified’ and claimed that Israel was ‘solely responsible.'”
“This deluded romanticization of violence has been matched by calls for more violence and the obliteration of the state of Israel ‘by any means necessary,'” the alumni added.
The HCJAA also called out Harvard for remaining silent “while Jewish students mourned the murder of their own family and friends, and the whole conscientious world reeled at the scale of the horror.”
“During this time, the University remained silent,” the letter read. “In the absence of any official pronouncement to the contrary, these letters conveyed the implicit approval of a silent administration.”
“It was incumbent on the administration to speak out swiftly against terrorism, especially when it has spoken clearly and forcefully on many recent geopolitical and political events,” the alumni added.
The alumni are now calling on Harvard to recognize the HCJAA as a formal special interest group, share concrete plans to ensure the protection of Jewish students on campus, and officially adopt the articulated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s definition of “antisemitism,” among other things.
As Breitbart News reported, more than 30 Harvard student groups responded to the murder of Jews in Israel by the Palestinian terror group Hamas by issuing a joint statement in which they wrote, in part, “We hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
Harvard leadership was slammed for the manner in which it responded — first, for the university’s lack of response after the terrorist attacks, and second, for the school’s failure to push back against its student organizations when it finally responded to the matter.
After that, Harvard President Claudine Gay ended up releasing a second statement on the terror attacks, this time distancing the school from the 30 student groups in question.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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