#alan garber

by David Litman

When it comes to restoring academic quality and combating antisemitism, Harvard’s actions continue to defy its lofty promises. Consider just the most recent example: the appointment of Shaul Magid as a “Professor of Modern Jewish Studies in Residence” at Harvard Divinity School.

According to Harvard, the faculty search review committee, composed of Terrence Johnson, Ann Braude, and Charles Stang, “lauded Magid’s scholarship, mentorship, and commitment to intellectual diversity. His appointment, they noted, will be pivotal in enriching Harvard’s strengths in Jewish studies.”

One must wonder whether Johnson, Braude, and Stang bothered to review Magid’s history. Consider just one recent remark by Magid at a two-day conference on “Non-Zionist Jewish Traditions” at Brown University:

“Are we doing this as disinterested scholars? My answer would be no. We are here because we are most interested scholars. Most of us come here because we agree that, with all that has been accomplished, something has gone very wrong with the Jews today.”

He continued: “Nationalism poisoned the well of Jewish nature.”

So, too, did those other “interested scholars” with whom Magid proudly surrounded himself. Another, Omer Bartov, echoed Magid’s “poisoned well” remark, declaring “a poison has been distilled into the veins of the country [of Israel], and slowly but surely it proceeds toward savagery.” Adi Ophir declared that Jews must openly reject support of Israel or “they are complicit.” Beshara Doumani declared “Israel…has become the North Star of the rise of fascism all over the world,” and that Zionism is “a child of antisemitism.” Another academic, Ariella Azoulay, known for particularly outlandish antisemitic rants, claimed Europe “invented us as Jews” and that there is “an evangelical settler colonial death drive implanted in Jews’ hearts.”

Not one participant challenged the conference speakers’ absurdly antisemitic rhetoric.

This is “intellectual diversity” and “enrichment,” according to Harvard Divinity School.

Just last month, in an attempt to ward off government intervention, Harvard University President Alan Garber promised that he understood the “importance of ending antisemitism” and “embrac[ing] a multiplicity of viewpoints rather than focusing on narrow orthodoxies.”

Well aware of the “chilling…contemporary antisemitism” that has overtaken Harvard Divinity School, Garber has made similar claims before.

Robert Mackey at The Guardian:

The US Department of Education informed Harvard University on Monday that it was ending billions of dollars in research grants and other aid unless the school accedes to a list of demands from the Trump administration that would in effect cede control of the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university to the government. The news was delivered to Dr Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, in a deeply partisan letter from Linda McMahon, the education secretary, which she also posted on social media. “This letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek grants from the federal government, since none will be provided,” McMahon wrote. The main reason for the crackdown on Harvard is the school’s rejection of a long list of demands from the Trump administration’s antisemitism taskforce, prompted by campus protests against Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. McMahon also accuses the university of “a systematic pattern of violating federal law”.

As Garber explained in a message to the Harvard community last month, the university decided to sue the federal government only after the Trump administration froze $2.2bn in funding, threatened to freeze an additional $1bn in grants, “initiated numerous investigations of Harvard’s operations, threatened the education of international students, and announced that it is considering a revocation of Harvard’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status”. The government’s “sweeping and intrusive demands would impose unprecedented and improper control over the university”, Garber wrote. In its lawsuit against the Trump administration, Harvard said the government’s funding cuts would have stark “real-life consequences for patients, students, faculty, staff [and] researchers” by ending crucial medical and scientific research. The text of McMahon’s letter, much like a Truth Social post from Donald Trump, is littered with all-caps words. “Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country – and why is there so much HATE? “Harvard University has made a mockery of this country’s higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus,” McMahon claims. The university recently published its own, in-depth investigation of allegations that Gaza solidarity protests had crossed the line into antisemitism, and a second that looked at anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias.

But McMahon’s letter is not mainly about the claim that Jewish students feel unsafe at Harvard – a view the school’s president, who is himself Jewish, has some sympathy with – but is filled with extended diatribes about a series of other grievances, including: the supposed far-left politics of Penny Pritzker, a member of the university’s governing board who previously served as US commerce secretary during the Obama administration; the complaints of the Harvard alumnus and Trump supporter Bill Ackman; what McMahon calls the “ugly racism” of Harvard’s efforts to diversify its student body; complaints about what Fox News has termed a “remedial math” course which is intended to address gaps in new students’ math skills following the Covid pandemic; accusations that the Harvard Law Review has discriminated against white authors; and two brief fellowships the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health offered to the former mayors of New York and Chicago, Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot.

The Trump Regime’s war on academic freedom targeting Harvard University is an un-American abomination.

See Also:

Anna Betts at The Guardian:

Donald Trump has declared that Harvard University should no longer receive federal funds, calling it a “joke” that “teaches hate and stupidity”, while his administration said the pre-eminent US university could lose its ability to enrol foreign students. Harvard made headlines on Monday by becoming the first university to stand up against a series of onerous demands from the Trump administration, setting the stage for a showdown between the federal government and one of the US’s most prestigious institutions. The Trump administration swiftly retaliated by announcing it would freeze more than $2bn in multiyear grants and contracts with the university. On Wednesday it was also reported by CNN that the IRS was planning to take away Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

Numerous Democratic politicians and top universities across the country have rallied in support of Harvard, but the Trump administration has doubled down, threatening to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status and insisting that the university apologize. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said late on Wednesday that Harvard would lose its ability to enrol foreign students if it did not meet demands the Trump administration demands to share information on some visa holders. The department’s secretary, Kristi Noem, also announced the termination of two DHS grants to Harvard totalling more than $2.7m. Noem said she wrote a letter to the university demanding records on what she called the “illegal and violent activities” of Harvard’s foreign student visa holders by 30 April. “And if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” she said in a statement. A spokesperson for Harvard said it was aware of Noem’s letter and that the university stood by its statement earlier in the week to “not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights”, while saying it would comply with the law. As part of an ongoing government review of various universities over allegations of antisemitism following the student-led campus protests against the war in Gaza last year, the Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard University on Friday outlining a list of demands it must meet in order to “maintain Harvard’s financial relationship with the federal government”. It demanded Harvard close all diversity, equity and inclusion programs; share various admission details with the government; report foreign students who commit conduct violations to federal authorities; commission an outside party to audit each academic department to make sure the student body, faculty, staff and leadership is “viewpoint diverse”; and more. On Monday, Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, responded that the university would not yield to the government’s demands, describing them as “an attempt to control the Harvard community”.

“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” he said. “The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s first amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI. And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge.” He added: “No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” Other universities responded quickly. In a statement on Tuesday, the acting president of Columbia University said that it would “reject any agreement in which the government dictates what we teach, research, or who we hire”.

Marita Vlachou at HuffPost:

Former President Barack Obama on Monday praised Harvard University for its decision to defy the demands made by the Trump administration for the institution to maintain federal funding, calling the government’s effort an “unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom.” The changes ordered by the administration to be made by August 2025 included ending all diversity, equity and inclusion programs, limiting international student admissions, requiring “viewpoint” diversity in all programs, and closing departments and teaching units that cannot meet the administration’s demands. Alan Garber, the president of Harvard, said the requirements set out by the administration in a five-page letter on Friday violate the university’s First Amendment rights and threaten “our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge.” “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber said. In a post on Bluesky, Obama lauded the university’s decision to not give in to pressure.

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” Obama wrote. “Let’s hope others follow suit,” he added. Obama is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Following Harvard’s announcement, the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, under the Department of Education, announced it had frozen $2.2 billion in multi-year grants as well as $60 million in “multi-year contract value” to the university.

OUR STATEMENT ON HARVARD’S SETTLEMENT TODAY. PLEASE READ AND SHARE.

A year ago, I decided to sue Harvard over their blatant Civil Rights violations and normalization of antisemitism on campus.

Although certain Jewish nonprofits discouraged us, we charted a new path forward for young American Jewry, and I’m delighted that there are now more than a dozen such cases filed by heroic Jewish students across the country.

I am deeply grateful for the 4 other plaintiffs at Harvard who decided to join me. Although I wish they weren’t anonymous, their bravery is commendable.

Harvard, rather than apologize or recognize antisemitism on our campus, filed two separate motions to dismiss our case with prejudice. They lost. We are the first case of its kind to go to trial.

I am happy that many of my demands, like the implementation of the IHRA definition and a partnership with an Israeli University, were met during the settlement negotiations. It’s pathetic, however, that Harvard needed a lawsuit for this to happen.

That being said, our country is suffering from a crisis of accountability. The only way to defeat lawlessness is through punishment and discipline. Harvard must never even think about treating another student like the way the treated me.

As such, I have rejected the settlement as it stands.

Instead, we will depose Claudine Gay, Alan Garber, Marla Frederick, Penny Pritzker, and DEI admin under oath so they can explain to a jury why they allowed antisemitism to fester on campus and why they ignored my cries for help.

I look forward to discovery where we will uncover through emails, texts, meetings, and private correspondence just how much Qatar is funding Harvard, why antisemitic Professors are promoted, and why students who harass Jews are never disciplined.

Lastly, we will be working closely with the Trump administration to ensure Harvard’s endowment is taxed, its funds are withheld, and its faculty are properly disciplined.

Harvard created this settlement to look like a PR win; so they can go to the Trump admin and say they fixed the problem. Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, we will be working with Trump’s DOJ, Ed Department, and Office of Civil Rights on this lawsuit to hold Harvard accountable.