Harvard reinstates anti-Israel student group after five-month suspension
After a five-month suspension, Harvard University’s Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) has been reinstated as an official student organization.
PSC was suspended in April just days before the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine incident, when several groups of students staged an encampment in Harvard Yard.
After a five-month suspension, Harvard University’s Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) has been reinstated as an official student organization.
The group originally lost its status as a student organization after violating Harvard University’s protest guidelines.
PSC was suspended in April just days before the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine incident, when several groups of students staged an encampment in Harvard Yard. PSC’s suspension initially drew criticism from pro-Palestine students and faculty.
Following their suspension, the group was ordered to “cease all organizational activities” for the rest of the spring semester after it was discovered they played a role in organizing the encampment, as noted by The Harvard Crimson.
“The organization will not be recognized and will not have access to university benefits and services during this time, including but not limited to use of campus space and appropriate use of the Harvard name,” an email from the university to PSC stated. “If the organization continues to operate and commits additional violations during this suspension, the organization risks permanent expulsion, as provided in the Resource Guide.”
PSC will reportedly have access to university mailing lists, room reservations, and the ability to apply for funding through the Harvard Undergraduate Association.
In a recent statement, PSC reportedly wrote that it is “committed to using our newly re-registered status to push the university towards divestment and continue to advocate for Palestinian liberation.”
“We will continue to call out our university and in particular Harvard College for their draconian measures to restrict protest, free speech, and any support for Palestinian lives amidst a genocide,” the group added, as noted by the Crimson. “Registration does not pacify us, and the university’s attempts to silence students will only result in greater resistance.”
Following the Oct. 7 Hamas’ attacks against Israel, PSC co-signed a statement announcing held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the full statement reads. “For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell’, and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced.”
Campus Reform has contacted Harvard College and the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
