Harvard places another 10 students on probation for encampment, anti-Israel group claims
Harvard University has reportedly placed another 10 graduate students on probation for their roles in the pro-Hamas encampment during this past semester.
Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts has reportedly placed 10 graduate students on probation for their roles in the pro-Hamas encampment during this past semester.
The sanctions were announced on Instagram by various anti-Israel organizations like Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, a group that was reportedly behind the anti-Israel encampment that was set up on Harvard’s campus in April and May.
According to the various anti-Israel student groups who shared the same June 25 post, three students were given year-long probations, seven students were given semester-long probations, two students had their charges dropped, and one student was given an admonition.
“In exchange for decamping the Gaza solidarity encampment, Harvard administration promised, among other things, disciplinary procedures for students would follow ‘existing precedent and practice,’” the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee wrote in the post. “Existing precedent and practice at Harvard means dropping the charges or issuing minor discipline.”
“Now, the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) is punishing students far more harshly than other Harvard grad schools,” the group continued.
“Our targets are not equal, but they are interconnected parts of a political and media apparatus that manufactures consent for genocide,” the anti-Israel “Harvard Crimeson” posted to Instagram two days prior on June 23. “Harvard has supported apartheid states before; we know which side it’s on.”
“We will not rest until Palestine is free,” the post added.
In May, Harvard suspended five students and another placed 20 individuals on probation for their role in pro-Palestinian protests, according to The Harvard Crimson. Of the students disciplined, 13 were seniors and were prohibited from graduating on time.
A group of nearly 500 Harvard University faculty members signed an open letter on May 20, at the time of the first round of sanctions, standing in support of the students who had participated in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
[RELATED: UChicago withholds degrees from pro-Hamas grads]
“We, the undersigned Harvard faculty and staff, are alarmed that Harvard undergraduate students who engaged in peaceful protest are being sanctioned in an unprecedented, disproportionate, and arbitrary manner compared to students engaging in similar acts of civil disobedience in Harvard’s history,” the faculty group wrote. “These sanctions undermine trust.”
On the following day, however, nearly 400 pro-Israel Harvard affiliates, including alumni and professors, signed an open letter of their own urging “significant consequences” for the anti-Israel protestors.
“While some have tried to associate the encampment with the long history of protests on Harvard’s campus, this one is distinct for its calls for violence and its active and targeted disruption of the lives of an identifiable group of minority students,” they wrote. “During its 3-weeks in Harvard Yard, we documented numerous instances of inappropriate and egregious conduct, including harassment, denial of equal access to common areas on Harvard property, and threats of violence towards Jewish and Israeli students or their allies.”
Campus Reform has contacted Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
