The university ignored a suggestion to review its courses and lectures for academic rigor.
The Wall Street Journal, Dara Horn, September 27, 2024
I had the dubious distinction last fall of serving on Harvard’s Antisemitism Advisory Group. It went so badly that I wound up as a witness in Congress’s investigation of Harvard. When I spoke at a summit for the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance last week, I had to be escorted across campus by an armed guard.
At our advisory group’s first meeting last October, a senior Harvard administrator admitted, “Students are very ignorant about the Middle East or Israel or Zionism.” If only there were an educational institution with a $50.7 billion endowment that could address that ignorance.
No one in the advisory group argued against free speech. Students can chant “globalize the intifada” all they want. As the screaming students point out, “intifada” simply means “uprising.” True. Also, “Sieg Heil” simply means “Hail victory,” and Confederate flags are simply regional symbols. Students can scream whatever racist things they like. But this evades the question: Why is Harvard full of screaming racists?