The school’s former president says he is motivated to curb rising antisemitism.
Boston Globe, Stephanie Ebbert and Deirdre Fernandes, March 21, 2024
Summers was among the first to publicly attack Harvard for its silence after the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, posting on X, “In nearly 50 years of Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today.”
A few weeks ago, Summers blamed the crisis in higher education on, in part, a preoccupation with diversity. “We have stepped away from merit and excellence, and we have adopted a particular concept and set of concepts of social justice as being at the center of the purpose of universities,” Summers said in an interview on the podcast “The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk,” in late February.
Summers said he is raising up “important issues of conscience,” which others in the community “have been afraid to speak out on.”
His primary and abiding concern, Summers said, is antisemitism on campus. After Hamas attacked Israel — and dozens of Harvard student groups issued a statement that appeared to justify the attacks and aligned themselves with Palestinians — Summers called out Harvard for “a double standard” of reacting zealously to prevent discrimination against some groups, but failing to protect Jews.
The university needs “to do much more to respond to antisemitism,” said Summers, who is Jewish, “in ways that are parallel with other forms of prejudice.”