Following the Harvard Corporation’s statement of “unanimous support” for President Claudine Gay, the stress between Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestine stances strained again on the historic campus.
“A lot of people don’t have much energy to talk about this anymore,” said a visibly weary Harvard student who stopped to talk to pro-Palestinian protestors at a campus entrance off Massachusetts Ave. on Tuesday. “It’s difficult to talk about. We all see the images of what’s happening. So many people have family over there, family they may fear is dead. And it hasn’t been happening since Oct. 7; it’s been happening for a long time.”
The student was one of several who spoke only on the condition of anonymity amid the campuswide climate of fear and tension around the issue.
Several students on campus expressed support for Gay and the Corporation’s decision to stand by her after controversial comments at a Congressional hearing on antisemitism last week. But largely, they did so quickly and moved on.
Others were more outspoken.
The Harvard Corporation said Gay has “committed to redoubling the University’s fight against antisemitism.”
The now-well-known “doxing truck” — one of the trucks that has named and denigrated students and staff for alleged comments against Israel or for Palestine — drove along the college throughout the day, flashing slogans like “Claudine Gay: the best friend Hamas ever had” and “(I)t’s time to RESIGN.” As it passed, some community members shouted pro-Palestinian slogans and insults.
Likewise, at the pro-Palestinian demonstration on Mass Ave, some students flipped the bird or crumpled and threw flyers back at protestors.
“They’re repressing pro-Palestinian voices,” RevCom protestor Rafael Kadaris shouted through a megaphone, pointing to the doxing truck’s slogan as it drove by.
“‘Why can’t Jews have protections on this campus?'” he read off the truck. “Why don’t Palestinian people have protections in Gaza right now from having 2,000 pound bombs and missiles raining down on them?”
Many Harvard faculty also expressed support for the Corporation’s decision in a statement, but warned the push against her reflected an “increasingly damaging pattern of right-wing attacks on institutions of higher education and American democracy.”
“The attacks on President Gay have been precipitated by people who want to conflate anti-Zionism and anti-semitism to deflect attention from Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian people,” said Amir Mohareb, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School.
Professors argued students championing pro-Palestinian viewpoints have been “relentlessly attacked” and subject to “egregious recriminations” and their speech must be protected.
“We should never allow such nefarious outside forces, whether disingenuous far-right politicians or billionaire donors, to set the tone of a national conversation about dissent, equity and tolerance on campus,” said Vijay Iyer, professor of Music and African and African American Studies.