Washington, D.C. - In case you missed it, National Review reported that Congresswoman Elise Stefanik sent a letter to the Harvard Corporation demanding Harvard University hold perpetrators of antisemitism accountable.
Read the full article below:
National Review: Stefanik Blasts Harvard for Failure to Discipline Students Who Allegedly Assaulted Israeli Classmate
By Zach Kessel
Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) sent a letter to Harvard University leadership on Thursday asking why the administration has yet to discipline anti-Israel campus protesters who allegedly accosted and assaulted an Israeli student.
During an October 18 “die-in” demonstration intended to signal opposition to Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas after the October 7 terrorist attack, multiple keffiyeh-clad protesters surrounded an Israeli first-year business student, grabbing, pushing, and yelling at him.
Harvard has since engaged a law firm to conduct an independent investigation of the incident, and as Stefanik wrote in her letter, local prosecutors are currently in the process of scheduling court hearings for two of the assailants.
On March 25, though, the victim’s legal representation “learned that the ‘Clerk’s Hearing’ in the criminal case has been postponed to May 7.”
“One of the assailants in the incident, a 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,” Stefanik wrote.
The firm representing the victim, Holtzman Vogel, wrote a letter in March to the attorney Harvard retained to conduct its internal investigation asking why the probe had not progressed since it began.
Noting that the university and its legal team had not notified them of any developments in the investigation and had not issued proper disciplinary action, the team of attorneys wrote that “the protracted delay all but ensures that at least one of the offending individuals will have the privilege of graduating from Harvard without facing any serious academic or professional consequences for his actions.”
The lack of punishment, the attorneys wrote, sends a message that “Harvard students can harass and assault a Jewish individual on camera with impunity, advertise the attack on social media, and still receive a Harvard degree, scot-free.”
Stefanik, reminding interim Harvard president Alan Garber and Harvard Corporation senior fellow Penny Pritzker of former president Claudine Gay’s performance at a December congressional hearing, wrote that this latest instance of the university’s refusal to discipline students, faculty, and staff for antisemitic behavior demonstrates a striking lack of accountability on the part of Harvard.
“In front of Congress, when disgraced former Harvard President Claudine Gay failed to denounce antisemitism and calls for genocide, she also claimed ‘disciplinary processes are underway’ against perpetrators of antisemitism,” Stefanik wrote. “This has proven to be false, with Harvard producing no evidence of punishment against those who have committed crimes and violated Harvard’s code of conduct.”
The New York congresswoman, referencing the sharp decrease in early applicants to Harvard since its post-October 7 wave of antisemitism began, wrote that “at a time when support and applications for Harvard have fallen, university leadership has continuously chosen to side with those who hate Jewish students and faculty and failed to keep them safe.”
This particular instance is not the first time Harvard has seemingly stonewalled an investigation. House Education and Workforce Committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) announced in March that the university has not complied with a congressional subpoena ordering the administration to provide documents related to the committee’s investigation into Harvard’s handling of antisemitism on its campus.
“Harvard’s continued failure to satisfy the Committee’s requests is unacceptable,” Foxx wrote at the time. “I will not tolerate delay and defiance of our investigation while Harvard’s Jewish students continue to endure the firestorm of antisemitism that has engulfed its campus.”
Harvard assistant vice president for communications Jonathan Swain told National Review in a statement that the university is intent on fighting antisemitism on its campus.
“Antisemitism has no place in the Harvard community,” Swain wrote. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to combating antisemitism, in whatever form it manifests itself and our ongoing efforts to ensure that Jewish students feel safe, valued, and embraced at Harvard.”
Swain also wrote in his email to NR that the divinity student referenced in Stefanik’s letter “is not scheduled to graduate in May 2024.” Though Swain would not elaborate on that assertion, NR reviewed previous reporting identifying the student as Elon Tettey Tamaklo — based on an FBI report — and Tamaklo’s LinkedIn page, which indicates that he will in fact receive his degree in May 2024.
