Schools
The Harvard Student Palestine Solidarity Committee has made headlines and gained national notoriety several times since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Hundreds of students marched through Harvard Yard Friday afternoon to protest the war in Gaza and express solidarity with the 108 pro-Palestinian student protesters arrested Thursday at Columbia University. Maddie Khaw for the Boston Globe
After finding itself at the center of several recent campus controversies, a pro-Palestinian Harvard University student group now says its activity has been suspended amid escalating tensions over Israel’s war and Hamas.
The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee announced the suspension in a statement posted Monday on Instagram.
“Over the past six months, the PSC has faced unprecedented repression – doxxing, racist harassment and targeted administrative repression – as we protested the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the group wrote. “After being placed on illegitimate and retroactive probation, PSC was suspended.”
A Harvard spokesperson did not respond to a request to confirm the suspension.
Student newspaper Harvard Crimson obtained an email stating that the university has ordered PSC to “cease all organizational activities for the remainder of the spring 2024 term” or face permanent expulsion. Harvard had already placed the group on probation in March, crimson reported.
“The organization will not be recognized or have access to university benefits and services during this time, including, but not limited to, use of campus space and appropriate use of the name of Harvard,” says the email obtained by the crimson reportedly declared.
The PSC has repeatedly made headlines and gained national prominence since the war between Israel and Hamas began last fall. Shortly after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7 plunged the region into violent conflict, the PSC circulated a letter co-signed by dozens of student organizations.
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime fully responsible for all of the violence that is taking place,” they wrote. “Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum.”
Immediate backlash followed, placing Harvard in the international spotlight and leading to threats and intimidation against students linked to the letter.
Last fall, the PSC disputed allegations of harassment after a viral video showed a tense confrontation during one of the group’s protests outside Harvard Business School. Last February, several pro-Palestinian groups at Harvard were also accused of anti-Semitism after the PSC and another student organization shared an inflammatory cartoon on social media.
Campus tensions continued to escalate amid rising death tolls in Gaza; More than 34,000 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s retaliatory military offensive, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing data from the local Health Ministry.
According to Crimson, The PSC was one of several student groups to hold a rally at Harvard Yard on Friday after more than 100 Columbia University students were arrested for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest last week. Harvard also restricted access to Harvard Yard through Friday in anticipation of further protests.
In informing the PSC of its suspension, Harvard reportedly cited Friday’s event and noted that the group failed to record the protest and violated protest guidelines, the PSC said. crimson reported.
In a statement provided to Boston.com, a Harvard spokesperson said the college “works closely with our recognized independent student organizations to ensure they follow existing policies outlined in the Organization Resource Guide students and all the expectations of colleges and universities.
Harvard “is committed to implementing all policies in a content-neutral manner and in close partnership with our student organizations,” the statement continued. “All student organizations are required to participate in training on these policies annually, and any organization found in violation of the policy is subject to corrective action.”
News of the PSC’s suspension sparked outrage among pro-Palestinian activists on campus. In a statement on Instagram, Harvard Justice for Palestine faculty and staff said the university “summarily got rid of constitutionally protected academic freedom and freedoms of dissent in an effort to make silence students who speak out against apartheid, occupation and genocide.”
The faculty group called on Harvard to reinstate the PSC and affirmed students’ rights to free speech and political expression.
“We support their commitment to advocating for meaningful change and their decision to stand in solidarity with their peers at Columbia University and beyond as they call for divestment from institutions with financial ties to the war of Israel against Gaza and with the settlements in the West Bank,” Harvard said. Professors and justice staff in Palestine wrote.
For its part, the PSC remained defiant in the face of administrative reprimands.
“You can suspend our organization and threaten our students. But you will never silence our calls to divest from apartheid, occupation (and) genocide,” the group wrote on Instagram. “We call on the Harvard community to fight against repression and join the Palestinian liberation movement. History is your business.
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