‘No longer welcome’, Harvard & Columbia students lose job offers over Palestine support letter

After several Wall Street CEOs and founders announced their intent to deny jobs to Harvard and Columbia students who had openly supported Palestine and blamed Israel after the October 7 Hamas attacks, three of them are now facing repercussions.

An elite law firm, Davis Polk & Wardwell, has rescinded job offers given to three Ivy League students associated with Palestine support letter.

Track Latest Updates on Hamas-Israel Conflict

Davis Polk's managing partner Neil Barr has confirmed the reports in an email stating, views expressed in the letter "are simply contrary to our firm’s values" and added that the firm is remaining “in dialogue” with two of the students.

It added that student leaders who signed onto the statements are "no longer welcome in our firm".

What did Harvard Columbia letters say

The students had signed the letter titled ‘Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine’ condemned Israel in the wake of the violence. It went on to claim that Hamas attack, 'did not happen in a vacuum' and the Israeli government has forced Palestinians to live in 'an open-air prison for over two decades.'

A similar letter, signed by more than 20 student groups at Columbia stated, "The weight of responsibility for the war and casualties undeniably lies with the Israeli extremist government and other Western governments."

The students who have been denied jobs at the prestigious law firm attended Harvard and Columbia. Their names have not been revealed.

NYU Student lost job offer last week

Last week, another law firm, Winston & Strawn revoked a job offer to former New York University Student Bar Association president Ryna Workman, after Workman wrote that "Israel bears full responsibility" for Hamas’ deadly attack in Israel.

However, a BBC report says that an email sent by the managing partner, Neil Barr also indicates that a door has potentially been left open for a reversal of the decision. The law firm is reportedly talking to two of the students "to ensure that any further color being offered to us by these students is considered".

Harvard response to Hamas-Israel Conflict

The move comes a day after prominent Harvard alumni denounced a statement from a coalition of 34 university students organizations that said "the apartheid regime is the only one to blame" for the violence, referring to Israel. After a growing backlash against the university Harvard President Claudine Gay and senior leadership including 15 deans issued a statement on Monday that said they were "heartbroken by the death and destruction unleashed by the attack by Hamas that targeted citizens in Israel this weekend."

"The silence from Harvard's leadership ... has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel," Summers wrote on social media platform X. “I am sickened.”

The decision on Tuesday by the firm - which employs around 1,000 attorneys and has annual revenues of $1.7bn (£1.4bn) - comes as the views taken by US university students about the conflict in the Middle East continue to cause controversy on and off college campuses.

Harvard has been battling severe backlash after the letter went public, several student groups and leaders named as signatories later distanced themselves, some saying they were unaware of its full contents before it was published.

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