Harvard reverses suspensions, probations for anti-Israel activists

Suspensions and probations for anti-Israel student activists for protests and campus disruption were reversed by the Harvard College Administrative Board on Wednesday, according to the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (Harvard PSC) and Jews for Palestine.

The board had considered reconsideration requests and appeals for students who had been suspended and put on multi-semester probation in May for involvement in an anti-Israel protest encampment that had been established on April 24 and removed on May 14.

“This reversal is a bare minimum. We call on our community to demand no less than Palestinian liberation from the river to the sea, grounded in the rights of return and resistance,” the anti-Israel student groups said in a joint statement on Instagram. “We will not rest until divestment from the Israeli regime is met.”

The anti-Israel groups demanded that the university bestow degrees on 13 seniors who had been denied the awards because they faced disciplinary measures. Hundreds of students and guests stormed out of the Harvard graduation commencement in May to protest the president and fellows of Harvard College’s decision not to confer degrees on students not in good standing. The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) coalition held its own “people’s commencement” after marching to the Harvard-Epworth Church.

Harvard PSC attributed the reversal of the disciplinary measures to the commencement protest march and the over 45 campus organizations that backed pardoning the students.

“After sustained student and faculty organizing, Harvard has caved in, showing that the student intifada will always prevail,” said the Wednesday joint statement. “As Israeli forces continue to massacre Gaza, we must remember the strength of our power and continue to call for this complicit institution to divest.”

Pro-Palestinian group condemned punitive measures

On June 25, Harvard PSC and Harvard Graduate Students 4 Palestine issued a joint statement condemning the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Science Administration Board for issuing three yearlong probations, seven semester-long probations, and one admonition. Two charges against students were reportedly dropped. The anti-Israel groups claimed that GSAS had issued harsher punishment than the other schools and that the university had continued to break promises to retract suspensions as a precondition for the removal of the encampment on May 14.

Harvard Interim President Alan Garber had said in a statement at the time that he would facilitate meetings with relevant bodies to initiate reinstatement proceedings and for expedited disciplinary evaluations.

In a Friday statement, the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance (HJAA) said that the Ivy League university had issues with the transparency of its disciplinary decisions, which had also been highlighted in a June 27 Harvard University Antisemitism Task Force.

“Harvard is neither fully disciplining students, graduate students, and even faculty who deserve it, nor remaining consistent with its own rules/decisions/processes because of pushback from aggressive faculty members,” HJAA said.

In a Tuesday letter to senior Harvard administration members, the alliance asserted that the university failed to discipline many students and staff who repeatedly violated codes of conduct, including not following up on submitted complaints. HJAA inquired as to why Harvard had not investigated those who distributed alternative commencement programs and asked for figures on the number of antisemitism allegations and punishments.