Harvard University’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, accused of rampant plagiarism, is now advising the university’s task force to combat anti-Semitism, rankling Jewish students who view the obsession with diversity as a root cause of anti-Semitism on campus.
Sherri Ann Charleston, who is Harvard’s first-ever chief diversity officer, is now an advisor to the Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism, Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber announced. Charleston was also just last month accused of 40 allegations of plagiarism including in her 2009 dissertation, according to the Free Beacon.
Harvard Divinity School student, Shabbos Kestenbaum, who is currently suing the school for enabling anti-Semitism, told The Daily Wire that he is disappointed with Charleston’s new duty.
“Sherri Charleston is facing more than 40 allegations of severe plagiarism, including data manipulation spanning more than a decade,” he said. “It’s remarkable that rather than disciplining her in a way a student would be disciplined for far less, Charleston is awarded a prestigious position on a Harvard task force.”
Kestenbaum added that DEI is “part of the insidious ideology that justifies and provides a rationale for anti-Semitism.”
“Why would Harvard appoint its highest officer to combat something her office promotes? Would Harvard appoint an oil executive to their climate change study? Would Harvard appoint a racist to their legacies of slavery initiative? Yet once again, Jews at Harvard are not given the same level of respect,” Kestenbaum said.
Harvard has faced mounting criticism for its actions in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre, including the resignation of former president Claudine Gay who was chastised over her public statements about combating anti-Semitism on campus. Gay later resigned after multiple allegations of plagiarism.
READ MORE: Harvard To Host UN Official Who Was Just Banned From Israel For Justifying Oct 7 Terrorist Attack
Kestenbaum said he has emailed the task force more than 30 times, but has never received a response.
The task force has frustrated many at the Ivy League institution who don’t believe it will improve conditions for Jewish students. Garber’s announcement about Charleston also disclosed the resignation of Harvard Business School professor Raffaella Sadun, who joined the task force after it was created.
“Professor Sadun has expressed her desire to refocus her efforts on her research, teaching and administrative responsibilities at HBS,” Garber wrote in his email. “Her insights and passion for this work have helped shape the mandate for the task force and how it can best productively advance the important work ahead.”
A report by the Harvard Crimson said Sadun resigned over concerns the school would treat the task force’s recommendations as advice rather than actions to implement. This echoes the December resignation of Rabbi David J. Wolpe from the anti-Semitism advisory committee — a precursor to the task force — because he didn’t think he made a difference.
Billionaire Bill Ackman seized the opportunity to take a jab at his alma mater.
“The half life of a @Harvard antisemitism task force member is about 60 days. I wonder what’s going on,” he said.
The half life of a @Harvard antisemitism task force member is about 60 days. I wonder what’s going on. https://t.co/uPaozimCCJ
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) February 25, 2024
“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help advance the vital work to combat antisemitism and believe that President Garber has assembled an excellent task force,” Sadun wrote in her own statement, reported The Harvard Crimson. “I will continue to support efforts to tackle antisemitism at Harvard in any way I can from my faculty position.”
The task force has faced criticism since its inception for including history professor Derek Penslar for criticism of Israel and minimizing Jew-hatred on campus. The top complaint is Penslar signing an August letter denouncing Israel as an “apartheid regime,” reported the Times of Israel.
“American Jews have long been at the forefront of social justice causes, from racial equality to abortion rights, but have paid insufficient attention to the elephant in the room: Israel’s long-standing occupation that, we repeat, has yielded a regime of apartheid,” states the letter.
In a December op-ed, Penslar wrote that the focus on rising anti-Semitism at Harvard “has obscured the vulnerability of pro-Palestinian students.”
In January, he told Jewish Insider that outsiders took Harvard’s anti-Semitism problem and “exaggerated its scope.”
The Harvard Crimson reported that Penslar considered stepping down due to the backlash.
“Of course anyone would ask themselves if they should continue,” Penslar, a prominent scholar of Jewish history, wrote in a statement. “I am grateful for the outpouring of support I have received from my colleagues and students, and from President Garber, and I remain committed to helping advance the important work of this task force.”