Harvard anti-Semitism task force leader resigns, says she doesn't believe school will accept proposed changes: REPORT
A member of Harvard University's anti-Semitism task force resigned from the committee because she didn't believe the institution would implement its recommendations, according to a report.
A member of Harvard University’s anti-Semitism task force resigned from the committee, saying she didn’t believe the institution would implement its recommendations, according to a report.
According to the Harvard Crimson, Harvard Business School professor Raffaella Sadun recently resigned from the task force after seeking a commitment from the university that it would act on recommendations from the committee.
The task force’s mandate didn’t include any guarantee that its recommendations would be implemented to combat anti-Semitism, something Sadun wasn’t happy with.
The Founding President of Harvard Chabad, Hirschy Zarchi, told the outlet that Sadun was frustrated with the task force and has been for an extended period.
Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber wrote in a statement that Sadun had “expressed her desire to refocus her efforts on her research, teaching and administrative responsibilities at HBS.”
“I am extremely appreciative of Professor Sadun’s participation in the task force over the past weeks,” Garber said. “Her insights and passion for this work have helped shape the mandate for the task force and how it can best productively advance the important work ahead.”
Sadun’s resignation marks the second time a member of an anti-Semitism committee at the university has stepped down.
In a statement to The Harvard Crimson, Sudan did not elaborate on her reasoning for stepping down.
“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help advance the vital work to combat antisemitism and believe that President Garber has assembled an excellent task force,” she wrote. “I will continue to support efforts to tackle antisemitism at Harvard in any way I can from my faculty position.”
As reported by Campus Reform in December 2023, Rabbi David Wolpe resigned from Harvard’s anti-Semitism committee after former President Claudine Gay’s testimony before Congress.
[RELATED: Rutgers professor who appeared on panel with Hamas commander set to speak at Harvard]
“The system at Harvard along with the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty, the ideology that works only along axes of oppression and places Jews as oppressors and therefore intrinsically evil, is itself evil,” Wolpe wrote on X.
“Battling that combination of ideologies is the work of more than a committee or a single university,” he added. “It is not going to be changed by hiring or firing a single person, or posting on X, or yelling at people who don’t post as you wish when you wish, as though posting is the summation of one’s moral character.”
