‘This silence is…deafening’, Harvard on the back foot again, now an open letter calls out ‘anti-semitism’ on its campus

Five esteemed alumni from Harvard Business School, including US Senator Mitt Romney and hedge fund manager Seth Klarman, have voiced their concern over the safety of Jewish students amidst ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.

In an open letter released on Monday, they have condemned the ‘threatening’ nature of the protests going on at the IVY league campus and sheds light on the fear instilled in Jewish students, some of whom have resorted to staying in their dorm rooms for safety. The alumni, also including Joanna Jacobson, Bill Helman, and Mark Nunnelly, urged the Harvard administration to uphold and enforce the university's existing moral code of conduct among its students, employees, and faculty.

“Your silence as the situation intensifies is both astounding and frightening,” they wrote in an “Open Letter to Harvard Leadership Regarding Antisemitism on Campus” addressed to Claudine Gay, the university’s president, and other school leaders. “Given that Harvard has been vocal in its advocacy for the rights of students from other religious, racial and ethnic groups, this silence, amidst the meteoric rise in antisemitism, is deafening.”

This open letter has only added fuel to the ongoing anger against Harvard’s handling of the tensions following the recent violence in the Middle East post Hamas's assault on Israel earlier this month. The situation was triggered after its 30 student groups blamed Israel for the October 7 Hamas terror attack, a stance that Larry Summers, a former Harvard president, found outrageous due to the university’s initial silence.

“Free speech is to be respected but hatred, threats and violence against students and faculty are unequivocally prohibited,” the letter stated.

Harvard has declined to comment about the letter. In subsequent statements, Gay has condemned the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. At an alumni reunion event Monday, she again condemned antisemitism and said she was “100% committed to making sure that Jewish life thrives here on our campus.”

In the backdrop of these developments, the alumni letter also brought to light a recent assault on an Israeli student on campus, and suggested measures like checking student IDs to bar outsiders from entering the campus, a practice temporarily adopted by the university. They also proposed a semester-long course to promote “productive discourse, critical thinking, and the interrogation of facts.”

Several prominent figures have condemned Harvard for its stand during the entire episode. At least two billionaire donors, Idan Ofer and Leslie Wexner, have pulled their support from Harvard. Investor Bill Ackman have claimed they would not give jobs to students who signed the letter. Three of its students were denied a job by top US law firm after giving them job offers.

US satirist, Bill Maher, also shockingly referred to the institute as, 'if ignorance is a disease, Harvard Yard is the Wuhan wet market.

“It certainly does not express my own views, because I condemn the killing of civilians and acts of terrorism as always reprehensible,” McKenzie said.

Harvard along with other premium institutions, meanwhile, are grappling with how to preserve the right to free expression and academic freedom against calls for more oversight over the language and actions of students, faculty and administrators.

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.

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