Former Harvard pres Larry Summers has 'lost confidence' in university after anti-semitism scandal

Harvard’s President Emeritus Larry Summers posted over the weekend that he had “lost confidence” in the university’s ability to be a place “where Jews and Israelis can flourish."

Summers made the remarks in response to the Harvard Corporation’s pick to co-lead a new antisemitism task force for the university.

On Friday, interim Harvard President Alan Garber announced that the institution is creating two task forces to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia and appointing Harvard Professor Derek Penslar, a professor of Jewish history and the director of Harvard's Center for Jewish Studies, as co-chair of the antisemitism task force.

On Sunday, Summers, who served as president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and is still a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, posted on X, "After Friday’s new anti-Semitism task force announcement, I have lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish."

Summers added, “The previously touted advisory committee has disbanded without any ripple, except for the resignation in frustration with the Harvard Administration of its most respected member, Rabbi David Wolpe,” who resigned following former Harvard President Claudine Gay's testimony before a House hearing on antisemitism where she refused to describe calls for the genocide of Jews antisemitic. 

Summers, who served as US Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, noted, "I have no doubt that Prof. Penslar is a profound scholar of Zionism and a person of good will without a trace of personal anti-Semitism who cares deeply about Harvard. However, I believe that given his record, he is unsuited to leading a task force whose function is to combat what is seen by many as a serious anti-Semitism problem at Harvard."

Summers, who also served as director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, wrote that Penslar "has publicly minimized Harvard’s anti-Semitism problem, rejected the definition used by the US government in recent years of anti-Semitism as too broad, invoked the need for the concept of settler colonialism in analyzing Israel, referred to Israel as an apartheid state and more. While he does not support BDS [the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel] he has made clear that he sees it as a reasonable position."

In August, Penslar signed an open letter falsely claiming that "Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid," and that judicial overhauls in Israel were designed to "ethnically cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian population," adding that "Jewish supremacism has been growing for years."

Summers continued, "None of this in my view is problematic for a professor at Harvard or even for a member of the task force but for the co-chair of an anti-Semitism task force that is being paralleled with an Islamophobia task force it seems highly problematic."

Summers called for Penslar to resign as co-chair of the task force, writing, "I also hope Harvard’s leadership will recognize that they have exacerbated Harvard’s credibility problems on anti-Semitism with the Penslar appointment and take steps to restore their credibility," Summers wrote. "As things currently stand, I am unable to reassure Harvard community members, those we are recruiting or prospective students that Harvard is making progress in countering anti-Semitism."

Billionaire Harvard alum Bill Ackman, who has slammed the university for its failure to address antisemitism following Oct. 7 and demanded Gay's resignation,  said regarding Penslar's appointment that Harvard "…continues on the path of darkness."