President Warns Anti-Israel Students Occupying Harvard Yard to End Protest
Harvard University has issued warnings to students in an anti-Israel encampment in Harvard Yard, threatening eviction, exam bans, and campus suspension if they don’t leave. Interim president Alan Garber sees it as a risk to the educational environment, impacting exams, activities, and student life. The encampment has led to disruptions on campus, affecting studies and events. Garber urges protesters to end the occupation, emphasizing the importance of upholding university policies, especially with upcoming commencements. Other universities, like Columbia and USC, have canceled events due to similar protests. Disruptions caused by the encampment risk spoiling graduation ceremonies for students who have already faced pandemic-related challenges.
Harvard University has threatened students squatting in the anti-Israel encampment in Harvard Yard with eviction from their dorms, prevention from taking their exams, and being barred from campus if they do not leave.
After allowing the encampment to thrive for nearly two weeks, Harvard interim president Alan Garber called it a “significant risk to the educational environment of the University.”
“Those who participate in or perpetuate its continuation will be referred for involuntary leave from their Schools,” Garber wrote. “Among other implications, students placed on involuntary leave may not be able to sit for exams, may not continue to reside in Harvard housing, and must cease to be present on campus until reinstated.”
Garber said the encampment has forced exams, important activities, and events to be moved elsewhere and has affected students’ ability to “sleep, study, and move freely about the campus.”
“The encampment favors the voices of a few over the rights of many who have experienced disruption in how they learn and work at a critical time of the semester,” Garber wrote. “I call on those participating in the encampment to end the occupation of Harvard Yard.”
Garber said that while he supports free speech, it is not “unlimited” at the private school.
Garber added that there have been reports of some of the protesters harassing other community members.
“When Harvard staff have requested to see IDs in order to enforce our policies, supporters of the encampment have at times yelled at them, tried to encircle them, and otherwise interfered with their work,” Gaber wrote. “We have also received reports that passers-by have been confronted, surveilled, and followed. Such actions are indefensible and unacceptable.”
According to Garber, the protesters have been “informed repeatedly” that their actions violate policies and will be “subject to disciplinary consequences,” and some students have been given disciplinary notices.
With commencement approaching, Garber called the ongoing violation of Harvard’s policies by having the encampment “more consequential.”
“Thousands of family members, friends, and loved ones will soon join us to celebrate the achievements of graduate and undergraduate students who have earned the right to walk in Commencement,” he wrote. “This celebration is the culmination of years of hard work and accomplishment. The members of the Class of 2024 deserve to enjoy this milestone uninterrupted and unimpeded. It would be especially painful if students who graduated from high school or college during the pandemic were denied a full graduation ceremony for a second time.”
Several universities around the country have canceled their main commencement ceremony because of anti-Israel protests including Columbia University and the University of Southern California.
Harvard Divinity School student Shabbos Kestenbaum, who along with other Jewish students filed a lawsuit against Harvard for enabling anti-Semitism told The Daily Wire that Garber should’ve acted sooner.
“It took Alan “Do-Nothing” Garber close to two weeks to denounce what students had been experiencing every day: lawlessness, anti-Semitism, and intimidation,” Kestenbaum said. “Yet, while he acknowledges the threat these protestors pose, he still refuses to immediately and forcibly remove them.”
Kestenbaum added that some of the flags he and other pro-Israel students placed on campus were vandalized over the weekend.
“Last Friday, we planted 1,200 Israeli and American flags in honor of the 1,200 Jewish, Muslim, and Christian victims of the October 7th Hamas invasion of Israel,” he said. “Within 24 hours, at least three different people had vandalized or removed the flags and our hostage posters. It is telling that at Harvard University you can chant slogans calling for ethnic genocide against Jews with no consequences, while planting an American flag will be denounced.”
We placed 1,200 American and Israeli flags on Harvard’s campus to honor the 1,200 victims of the October 7th invasion. Within 24 hours, it was vandalized three separate times. Harvard’s response? Nothing. @yaf pic.twitter.com/z0wxPFZb68
— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) May 6, 2024
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