Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has canceled his planned fellowship at Harvard in protest at the university’s failure to “vigorously denounce” anti-Semitism.
The college was rocked by demonstrations following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, and student organizations sparked nationwide anger by issuing a statement saying they “hold the Israeli regime fully responsible.”
President Claudine Gay attempted to distance the university from the 30 student organizations behind the statement, but her response was seen as inadequate.
Several donors and benefactors have withdrawn their support, and student job offers have been withdrawn. Hogan said Monday he would not be involved with the university.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday he could no longer accept an offer to speak at Harvard next month because they had failed to denounce anti-Semitism
“I cannot condone the dangerous anti-Semitism that has taken root on your campus, particularly through more than 30 Harvard student organizations that seek to justify and celebrate Hamas’ terrorism against innocent Israeli and American civilians,” Hogan wrote in a letter to Gay that he shared on X.
“While these students have a right to freedom of expression, they do not have a right to have hate speech go unchallenged by your institution.”
“Harvard’s failure to immediately and forcefully denounce the anti-Semitic vitriol of these students is, in my opinion, a moral stain on the university.”
He said the university had not learned from history and noted that everyone had a responsibility to “take a clear stand in the face of genocidal acts against the Jewish people or any other group.”
He added: “There are no ‘both sides’ when it comes to the murder, rape and kidnapping of innocent men, women and children.”
Palestine supporters gather at Harvard University on October 14th. When the terrorist attacks were launched by Hamas on October 7, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee issued a letter co-signed by 33 other Harvard student organizations that stated: “We, the undersigned student organizations.”, the Israeli regime for the hold solely responsible for all the violence that unfolds.”
Harvard students at the Oct. 14 rally on campus
The letter sparked a massive backlash after 33 student associations supported the PSC’s statement, which “blames the Israeli regime solely responsible for all the violence that is unfolding.”
Hogan, who was considering a run for the White House in 2024, said the decision to withdraw from the prestigious program was not made lightly but that he felt he had to take a stand.
“I hope it continues to inspire you to take meaningful action to combat anti-Semitism and restore the values that Harvard should represent to the world.”
Hogan was scheduled to visit campus for two days in November and hold a public question-and-answer session as well as private meetings and panels.
Gay said at a Harvard alumni meeting Monday that Hamas’ terrorist attacks “were barbaric and heinous and had a truly devastating impact on our Jewish community.”
She added: “Let me say this unequivocally: I condemn anti-Semitism in all forms and it has no place at Harvard.”
“I have spent the last two weeks speaking to a number of members of the Jewish community here at Harvard. It is an important and vibrant part of the university and I am 100 percent committed to ensuring that Jewish life thrives here on our campus. I am committed to doing more to ensure that all members of our community know and feel like they belong. We still have a lot to do in this dimension, but my full attention is on it.”
However, it was criticized for being slow to respond to students’ expressions of sympathy for Hamas’ actions.
Harvard President Claudine Gay (pictured) finally condemned Hamas’s “terrorist atrocities in Israel” – contradicting 34 student groups at the Ivy League institution that have pledged support for the militants
Larry Summers, a former Harvard president, said he was outraged by Harvard University’s initial silence after more than 30 student groups issued a statement blaming Israel, not Hamas, for the attack.
In an open letter published Monday, five Harvard Business School graduates, including Sen. Mitt Romney and hedge fund manager Seth Klarman, cited “threatening” demonstrations and said Jewish students had locked themselves in dorm rooms out of fear for their own safety.
Romney, Klarman and three co-signers called on Harvard to “redescribe and enforce the university’s existing moral code of conduct” required of students, staff and faculty.
“Their silence as the situation worsens is both astonishing and frightening,” they wrote in an “Open Letter to Harvard Leadership Regarding Anti-Semitism on Campus.”
“Given that Harvard has been vocal about supporting the rights of students from other religious, racial and ethnic groups, this silence amid the meteoric rise in anti-Semitism is deafening.”
At least two billionaire donors, Idan Ofer and Leslie Wexner, have withdrawn their support from Harvard.
One of the people involved in the controversial October 7 letter, the son of British perfume tycoon Jo Malone, has tried to distance himself from the letter by insisting that he was not on campus when his organization sent theirs released a statement condemning the Hamas attack.
The letter sparked a massive backlash after 33 student associations supported the PSC’s statement, which “blames the Israeli regime solely responsible for all the violence that is unfolding.”
Still, the unrest continued: About 500 pro-Palestinian protesters walked out of class and marched through several Harvard schools on Thursday, according to the Harvard Crimson.
The student newspaper said this was the third protest on campus in support of Palestinians since the start of the war in Israel and Gaza.
Harvard isn’t alone in facing difficult questions about its handling of student and faculty activism.
Last week, a climate scientist who teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago apologized humbly after calling Israelis “pigs,” “savages,” and “incurable excrement.”
Dr. Mika Tosca, who describes herself on social media as “Chicago’s radically optimistic trans climate scientist,” posted a comment on her Instagram Story on Tuesday.
Dr. Mika Tosca posted an offensive, hateful tirade against Israelis on Tuesday
“Israelis are pigs. Savages,” she wrote. “Very bad people. Incorrigible feces.’
She apologized Wednesday, saying she rejected her own words and wanted to retract them.
“Yesterday I wrote some things on my Instagram story that I strongly disagree with and don’t stand behind,” she wrote.
“I am deeply sorry that I wrote what I wrote and that I hurt many people with my words, and I am especially sorry for the Israeli people, whom I largely blamed for the war have.”
“You didn’t and don’t deserve this and I was wrong to post what I posted: I know my words perpetuate harmful stereotypes.”
And a Cornell University professor who called Hamas’ terror attacks “exhilarating and exhilarating” apologized last week for his “reprehensible” choice of words.
A Cornell professor with a history of radical left-wing views called the Hamas terror attacks in Israel “exhilarating” and “exciting” at a pro-Palestinian rally on Oct. 15. He now apologizes for the comments
Russell Rickford said at an Oct. 15 rally in Ithaca Commons, the downtown New York shopping district, that he was thrilled by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,400 Israelis.
He said he condemned the killing of any civilians but was angered by “the injustice and hypocrisy of Western support in celebrating Israeli war crimes and equating any form of Palestinian resistance with terrorism.”
On Wednesday, Rickford sent a letter to the Cornell Daily Sun saying he deeply regretted his words.
“I apologize for the terrible choice of words I used in a portion of my speech that was intended to highlight the grassroots African American, Jewish and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression,” Rickford said.
“I recognize that some of the language I used was objectionable and did not reflect my values.”
He apologized for “the pain that my reckless comments have caused my family, my students, my colleagues and many others during this time of suffering.”
Rickford concluded that he “unequivocally rejects and denounces racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, militarism, fundamentalism and all systems that dehumanize, divide and oppress people.”