Harvard Business School professor Raffaella Sadun has resigned from the presidential task force on antisemitism, The Harvard Crimson reported, citing a source familiar with the situation.
Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber appointed Sadun to lead the task force as a co-chair last month. Her decision to resign was confirmed in statements from Sadun and Garber on Sunday, according to the report.
“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help advance the vital work to combat antisemitism and believe that President Garber has assembled an excellent task force,” Sadun wrote. “I will continue to support efforts to tackle antisemitism at Harvard in any way I can from my faculty position.”
Sadun’s decision to resign is just the latest setback for Garber’s antisemitism task force, which has been dogged by controversy since its inception. After Garber announced Sadun would co-lead the group with Jewish history professor Derek J. Penslar, Penslar’s appointment drew criticism over allegations that he had minimized campus antisemitism.
Sadun’s shock decision to step down from the task force comes after The Crimson reported that Penslar considered resigning from his role as co-chair over the criticism surrounding his appointment.
Harvard University has come under fire over its handling of antisemitism on campus, which has been on the rise since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Shortly after the war began, a coalition of 34 Harvard student organizations released a statement in which they blamed Israel for Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel.
Later, then-Harvard President Claudine Gay came under fire after she, along with MIT President Sally Kornbluth and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, testified before a congressional hearing on the issue of antisemitism on college campuses.
All three university presidents gave similar answers to Rep. Elise Stefanik in which they failed to unequivocally condemn antisemitism or even calls for genocide against Jews.
Gay later resigned as President of Harvard amid the backlash over her congressional testimony on antisemitism. She subsequently claimed she was the target of a sustained campaign of lies and personal insults.
Last week, the House Education and the Workforce Committee subpoenaed Harvard University for alleged obstruction of its antisemitism investigation.