Harvard faculty condemn House committee report exposing anti-Semitism on America’s campuses

Harvard University faculty members recently criticized a House committee report that condemned Harvard, among other schools, for failure to effectively fight back against anti-Semitism on campus. 

The report, released on Oct. 31 by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, condemns “antisemitic harassment, assault, trespass, and destruction of school property” that was allowed to take place at multiple colleges and universities. “At some schools, such as Columbia and Harvard, radical faculty members worked to prevent disciplinary action from being taken against students who violated official policies and even the law,” the report notes. 

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Among its other findings, the House Committee notes that “Harvard leaders’ failure to condemn Hamas’ attack in their widely criticized October 9 statement was an intentional decision” and that “Harvard’s faculty intervened to prevent meaningful discipline toward antisemitic conduct violations on numerous occasions.”

The day after the report’s publication, Harvard professors began attacking its findings, according to The Boston Globe.

Vincent Brown, Harvard professor of American history and African and African American Studies, called the report “upsetting” and said that disciplining disruptive anti-Israel students would have been unfair “punishment.”

“This doesn’t look like they’re trying to protect students on campus,” he said. “When you read the report, overwhelmingly, it looks like what they’re concerned with is universities’ failure to punish their students. I didn’t get into education to punish my students.”

Steven Levtisky, another Harvard professor, called the Committee’s findings a “political hit job disguised as a congressional report.”

A Committee spokesperson, however, pushed back on the professors’ claims. 

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“The ridiculous notion that this investigation is government overreach is inaccurate and not grounded in reality,” he said, adding that the Committee’s investigation that resulted in the report was focused on “keeping Jewish students safe.”

Harvard was only one of several other schools mentioned in the report. 

Campus Reform reported about the Committee’s findings on Friday, noting the report’s mention of Rutgers University in New Jersey. Specifically, Rutgers ignored several cases of anti-Semitism at the school while unfairly punishing Jewish students who tried to expose said anti-Semitism, the report claimed. 

Campus Reform has reached out to Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.