
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) responded to the disappointment expressed by Harvard University President Alan Garber with the university’s fundraising efforts by pointing out that the university brought that problem on itself with its failure to properly deal with antisemitism on its campus.
Torres shared to social media site X a comment given by Garber to student paper The Harvard Crimson that some of this year’s donations have been “disappointing compared to past years.”
“More disappointing than Harvard’s fundraising is its failure to combat campus antisemitism. Therein lies the true disappointment!” Torres wrote.
“Harvard is confronting a reputational crisis of its own making—for which it has no one to blame but itself,” he added.
Harvard, which has seen an uptick in anti-Israel activity since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the war in Gaza which followed, has come under fire over its handling of antisemitism on campus.
Just two days after the October 7 massacre, a coalition of 34 Harvard student organizations released a statement in which they blamed Israel for Hamas’ attack.
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 eventually resigned as President of Harvard and was replaced by Garber, who will serve in the role until at least 2027.
In May, anti–Israel protesters at Harvard voluntarily took down a protest encampment after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment.
The anti-Israel protests have began again with the start of the new academic year.
In early September, anti-Israel protesters donning keffiyehs marched through the Harvard campus, waving Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags and chanting “Long live the intifada” and “Globalize the intifada”.