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Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers called on the University to take additional action against a pro-Palestine student group after it released a controversial statement on Monday about the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Summers criticized comments made by Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 during an interview with The Crimson on Tuesday, saying Garber’s remarks were inconsistent with a previous statement from University spokesperson that said “antisemitism will not be tolerated” at Harvard.
Garber criticized a social media post released by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee on Monday, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. In their post, the PSC described Oct. 7 as the day “Gaza broke through Israel’s blockade.”
“I am confused about how the PSC is a recognized University organization with access to University listservs, with potential funding through University fees,” Summers said. “That seems like more than tolerating.”
While Summers took issue with Garber not going far enough in his criticism of the PSC, Garber also faced backlash from other Harvard affiliates who believed that his comments describing the PSC’s statement as “offensive” appeared to violate the University’s new institutional voice policy.
Harvard Kennedy School professor Mathias Risse, the director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, wrote in an email to Garber on Wednesday that “several of us here at HKS have been enormously puzzled by various features of the new university speech policies.”
“The most puzzling aspect of it increasingly is your own take on them,” Risse added.
Risse’s email, which was obtained by The Crimson, alleged that the comments made by Garber reflected a double standard when it came to the application of the institutional voice policy.
“You are basically articulating an opinion (“offensive”) on a statement re. Oct 7, but then add that it’s not official, though all of that is already happening in public, and now is in the Crimson,” Risse wrote.
“This kind of interpretation of your own policies make it impossible for us in middle-management to be part of the bigger picture in productive ways,” he added.
Risse said other administrators and faculty bound by the institutional voice policy are looking to Garber’s example as president.
In the email, Risse attached a document with his own statement on the anniversary of Oct. 7, and noted that HKS administrators have gone to “considerable length to make sure we are getting balanced perspectives across” when planning events about the war in Gaza.
“It would be enormously helpful for how we try to contribute to the campus culture if this kind of effort were also echoed in Mass Hall — which in this case means one would hope you’d also have something to say, off the record in the same manner, about the 14,000 dead children in Gaza,” Risse added.
Harvard’s institutional voice policies apply not only to top University leadership, but also center directors, department chairs, and deans. The University’s recent policy guidelines echo Risse’s email, warning university officials that personal statements were likely to be conflated with statements on behalf of the University.
Garber said the University will release more detailed guidelines on the institutional voice policy at a later date in a Monday interview.
“For a new policy of this kind, we will gain experience and, in particular, experience in the application of the policy,” he said. “I believe we will develop what amounts to basically case law to help guide such decisions in the future.”
But while Risse took issue with Garber not mentioning the civilian death toll in Gaza, Summers said in an interview that Garber’s comments suggested that the University believed the PSC’s statement to be acceptable.
“Does the University believe that cheering for the annihilation of the Jewish state is not antisemitism?” Summers asked. “Do they not mean their statement that they do not tolerate antisemitism?”
Summers, who emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Harvard’s response to Oct. 7, claimed that the University’s actions have shown there is a “double standard with respect to antisemitism and racism.”
“It is inconceivable that the University would allow a Ku Klux Klan-allied student group to be recognized with access to funds and listservs,” Summers said.
University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain wrote in a statement that “Harvard has and will continue to be unequivocal that antisemitism will not be tolerated on our campus.”
“We have taken, and continue to take, actions to combat hate and to promote and nurture civil dialogue and respectful engagement,” he added.
Rep. Elise M. Stefanik ’06 (R-N.Y.), another leading critic of Harvard’s response to campus antisemitism, went farther, calling on Harvard to expel the PSC members in a statement to The Crimson.
Stefanik’s questioning of former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s during a congressional hearing December 2023 contributed to Gay’s resignation less than one month later.
“Harvard University has once again refused to condemn and discipline the pro-Hamas mob on campus, instead inviting another school year filled with antisemitism and anti-Israel hate,” Stefanik wrote.
“Now is not the time for more words but consequential action and enforcement of discipline,” she added.
—Staff writer Emma H. Haidar can be reached at emma.haidar@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @HaidarEmma.
—Staff writer Cam E. Kettles can be reached at cam.kettles@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cam_kettles.