"In and of itself, advocacy for the cause of people under duress — whether in Israel, Gaza, or other parts of the world — is noble.”
Harvard University has suspended some students who organized a pro-Palestine demonstration they called a "pray in" at the Ivy League school’s Divinity School library, the Christian Broadcasting Network reported Friday.
During the protest, covered by The Harvard Crimson, more than 55 graduate students insisted that Harvard “divest from Israel’s war in Gaza and end censorship on campus.” The protest focused on demands from some left-wing students who want the Harvard Management Company (HMC) to stop allegedly investing in organizations connected to Israel. The HMC is responsible for dispensing the endowment funding at the university.
In March 2024, the Harvard Law School’s Student Council voted 12-4 (with three abstentions) to approve a resolution that demanded the HMC “divest completely from weapons manufacturers, firms, academic programs, corporations, and all other institutions” that might in some way be advantageous to Israel. The vote prompted two members of the student government to resign because they said they “strongly disagree[d] with the resolution.”
The pray in went on for about 45 minutes before university security shut down the meeting and suspended the students for abrogating Harvard’s policy “to prevent students from feeling unsafe or distracted in spaces like libraries and classrooms.”
In her email announcing the suspensions, Harvard Divinity School Dean Marla F. Frederick said she is sympathetic towards the need for prayer. “At HDS we honor the importance of prayer and what it represents for so many,” she wrote. “And, as one colleague reminded us recently, ‘prayer is protest.’ In and of itself, advocacy for the cause of people under duress — whether in Israel, Gaza, or other parts of the world — is noble.”
One of the student protesters said Frederick’s remarks failed to grasp the issue at hand. “There’s a serious tension there between the ideals that HDS purports to uphold and the consequences that they impose on students who are living out these very ideals,” she said. “Harvard doesn’t support free speech. And I say this as someone who is Jewish and both concerned about antisemitism and concerned about the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
President-elect Donald Trump has warned America's post-secondary institutions that they need to stop "antisemetic propaganda or lose their accreditation and taxpayer support."
Powered by The Post Millennial CMS™ Comments
Join and support independent free thinkers!
We’re independent and can’t be cancelled. The establishment media is increasingly dedicated to divisive cancel culture, corporate wokeism, and political correctness, all while covering up corruption from the corridors of power. The need for fact-based journalism and thoughtful analysis has never been greater. When you support The Post Millennial, you support freedom of the press at a time when it's under direct attack. Join the ranks of independent, free thinkers by supporting us today for as little as $1.
Remind me next month
To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy
Comments
2024-11-19T04:06-0500 | Comment by: Jeffrey
RE: "The protest focused on demands from some left-wing students who want the Harvard Management Company (HMC) to stop allegedly investing in organizations connected to Israel." No. The article Krayden linked to as the source for his statement stated: "The resolution encourages the Harvard Management Company, the entity responsible for managing the university’s endowment and related financial assets, to 'divest completely from weapons manufacturers, firms, academic programs, corporations, and all other institutions' supporting the alleged ongoing genocide against Palestinians." Clearly, there is a difference. The altered quote was from an article entitled, "Harvard Law Student Government Calls for Divestment from Institutions Complicit in Gaza Atrocities." It appears that Harvard law students will get litigation experience for the university abridging their constitutional freedoms to assemble, speak and pray. The student groups protesting the genocide in Gaza are largely led by Jewish students. Trump's plan to end accreditation of schools that allow protesting the ongoing slaughter & maiming of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians will be met with lawsuits. Students have a right to protest & that right doesn't end on the university campus where they pay tuition & have a right to assemble, pray & engage in political speech. Doesn't matter whether Israel & the Zionists like it.