Harvard University’s interim president, who sparked outrage by naming a fierce critic of Israel as co-chair of a task force to combat anti-Semitic sentiment at the camps, said the embattled Ivy League school was has vowed to tackle “toxic” anti-Semitism.
Alan Garber, in his first interview since replacing ousted school leader Claudine Gay, weighs in on reports of “social exclusion” of Jewish students on campus amid the Israel-Hamas war. He told the Harvard Crimson that he was also concerned about this.
He said that would be one of the focuses of a new task force with “ambitious goals”.
Gerber’s concerns about anti-Semitism on campus are the first since she took over from Gay, who was expelled last month in a scandal that began with anger over her damning Congressional testimony about anti-Semitic threats against students. This was revealed during an interview with a news organization.
He said he was most concerned about self-censorship in the face of anti-Israel attacks.
“What I found most alarming were the situations and experiences where students described being unable to speak in class because there was an attack on Israel or perhaps Israelis,” Garber said.
“They feel unsupported when they speak out against them,” he added.
Professor Garber also said he was concerned about reports of Jewish students being “socially excluded” on campus amid the Israel-Hamas war, and that a newly established task force would address that. added.
He did not respond to a question about whether Ivy League schools would consider implementing audio regulations in classrooms, but said in a later statement that he did not support such a measure.
“I’ve heard complaints that in some classes, only certain viewpoints on controversial issues are presented and considered welcome,” he says. “The students I spoke to don’t think the solution is speech codes or other means of suppressing speech. Neither do I.
“Rather, they want the opposite: a classroom environment where alternative perspectives are taken seriously. Enabling this kind of environment is work that I am committed to advancing.”Gerber he added.
He told The Crimson that he was a “strong supporter of free speech,” but stressed that “we need to have a discussion about what the limits are.”
“Could an anti-Semitic attack take the form of an attack against Israel? The answer is yes, it can,” he said.
The school is under investigation by the House of Commons Education and Labor Committee over its handling of anti-Semitism.
The investigation began shortly after Gay’s testimony to Congress, but House Republicans have vowed to continue it after he resigned on January 2, citing plagiarism allegations and an anti-Semitism controversy on campus.
Gay came under fire in December when he was asked during a Congressional hearing whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard University rules.
She said it “depends on the context” and later apologized.
Gerber told the report that the university would “fully follow the process” of the investigation.
History professor Derek Pensler, who was chosen to co-lead the task force on anti-Semitism, has criticized former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers and others for past statements suggesting that reports of anti-Semitism at the school are exaggerated. has been exposed to severe criticism.
Gerber did not directly answer whether he agreed with Pensler’s previous comments.
“I think Derek would agree that we have a very serious problem,” he told The Crimson. “One of the task force’s most important goals is to come up with interventions that effectively address the problems we face today.”
