{shortcode-106d7ce4f314e74ec75d24336674f2ae5b963aa6}
Outgoing Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana said unrecognized student groups — which include the majority of pro-Palestine protest groups on campus — are not allowed to use campus resources in a Tuesday interview with The Crimson.
His comments come in the wake of several protests organized by unrecognized groups and at least one panel event held in a Harvard academic building by the African and African American Resistance Organization, also an unrecognized student group.
Khurana reaffirmed the Harvard College Student Handbook policy that unrecognized student organizations are “not permitted to conduct any activity at Harvard,” but said he was not aware of the event and declined to comment on if it was approved.
Instead, he urged any student aware of policy violations to report them to the DSO.
“I would ask any student who believes that there was abuse — or people who were at the event — of our student organization policies to report that to the Dean of Students Office,” Khurana said.
Because they are not recognized by the College’s Dean of Students Office, unrecognized groups cannot reserve certain rooms and spaces across the University, apply for funding through the Harvard Undergraduate Association, or access Harvard mailing lists.
Organizers for AFRO did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the College also did not comment on room reservation policies for unrecognized groups.
Multiple other unrecognized groups have used Harvard academic buildings and house spaces for events, including the Harvard Vote Socialist 2024 campaign and Harvard for Harris.
While the handbook prohibits public events hosted by outside or unrecognized groups, the University has largely refrained from taking disciplinary action against organizers for outdoor events on campus — though protests inside Harvard’s libraries, classrooms, and in one administrative building have been met with swift responses.
“Unrecognized student organizations cannot and should not use our resources,” Khurana said. “We must use our resources in a way that is consistent with the intent of what those spaces have been set up for, with resources that donors have provided us.”
During the interview, Khurana also addressed recent controversy surrounding a speaker event with Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd hosted by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee — a student group which regained its recognized status in September after a five-month suspension.
Citing the March 12 event, where El-Kurd said Israel is a “racist endeavour” and likened Zionism to white supremacy and Nazism, more than 200 Harvard affiliates signed an open letter calling for Harvard to disband the PSC.
The letter argued El-Kurd’s comments violated Harvard’s antisemitism policies after the University decided to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Association definition of antisemitism in January, though the policies do not explicitly prohibit language classified as antisemitic by the definition.
The Harvard Israel Business Club also faced backlash for one of their events earlier this month, where featured speaker and former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett joked about sending exploding devices to dissenting event attendees.
Khurana said Harvard provides students with autonomy to host speakers in order to expose them “to a variety of different perspectives” and referred students who believed there was a policy violation to Harvard’s official complaint procedures.
“The University has developed clear processes for if people believe that there is discriminatory or bullying activities happening,” Khurana said. “There’s a formal complaint process, and I would refer people to that.”
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.
—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.
