Washington, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik sent a letter to Harvard University Interim President Dr. Alan Garber and Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker demanding Harvard hold perpetrators of antisemitism accountable after obtaining a document from a law firm representing the victim of verbal harassment and physical assault at the university.
On October 18, 2023, Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee staged a “die-in” at Harvard Business School where students attacked Israel’s efforts to defend itself following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack. During this event, an Israeli Harvard Business School student recorded the act and was quickly surrounded by a mob of antisemitic perpetrators who physically assaulted and harassed him. These assailants blocked his path, repeatedly grabbed him, and shouted “Shame! Shame! Shame!"
According to documents obtained by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, following this incident Harvard engaged the law firm of Jenner & Block to conduct an independent investigation of the incident. Jenner & Block met with the victims’ attorneys at the law firm Holtzman Vogel in early January 2024 and received relevant video evidence of the incident.
Further information shows that local prosecutors are currently in the process of negotiating court dates with two of the Harvard students who assaulted the victim. On March 25, Holtzman Vogel learned that the “Clerk’s Hearing” in the criminal case has been postponed to May 7. One of the assailants in the incident, an antisemitic Harvard Divinity School graduate student, is scheduled to graduate in May 2024. Due to this postponement, the assailant will gain the lifelong distinction of being an alumnus of Harvard despite having committed a well-documented antisemitic hate crime against a fellow student.
In the letter, Congresswoman Stefanik states, “Justice for this incident should have been served quickly, and the delay of justice that specifically allows an antisemitic student to graduate is an affront to accountability and demonstrates the cultural rot of Harvard University’s leadership that has allowed antisemitism to continue.”
Read the full letter here.
