The Harvard University graduate student who was captured on video accosting a Jewish student at a campus protest has been removed from his role as a freshman proctor, according to a report.
Elom Tettey-Tamaklo was "indefinitely relieved of his duties following his involvement" in the protest, according to the Harvard Crimson, which cited a "petition that began circulating Friday evening and a student with direct knowledge of the situation." That petition, according to the campus paper, said the university asked Tettey-Tamaklo to leave his campus dorm over "student discomfort."
The move comes three weeks after the Washington Free Beacon first reported footage from an Oct. 18 "die-in" protest, during which Tettey-Tamaklo and other protesters pushed, shoved, and surrounded a first-year Israeli student at Harvard Business School. The protesters used keffiyehs to block their own faces and the Jewish student's view while shouting, "SHAME!"
Days later, Harvard scrubbed Tettey-Tamaklo's online biography, the Free Beacon reported, though it was unclear whether the school was distancing itself from Tettey-Tamaklo or protecting him. The move came as Harvard announced the formation of a task force to assist student protesters whose names were publicized after they blamed Israel for Hamas's Oct. 7 terrorist rampage.
Some Harvard Law students who attended the "die-in" protest responded to the ordeal by condemning the Jewish student. Second-year Harvard Law student Aashna Avachat, for example, said the "aggressive" Jew was "trying to harass peaceful demonstrators" by filming their activity.
Prominent Harvard Business School alumni disagreed, citing the protest as an example of the school's failure to protect Jewish students.
"The videos that have been made public, particularly the most recent violent assault of an Israeli student on the Harvard Business School campus, allow us all to see how Jewish and Israeli students are targets of threats and violence from groups of pro-Palestinian students," wrote five of the school's graduates, including Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) and billionaire investor Seth Klarman, in an open letter. "Despite these serious concerns, University leadership shockingly has been paralyzed."
Harvard is not the only Ivy League institution to take action against aggressive anti-Israel demonstrators in recent days.
Columbia University on Friday suspended its chapters of Students for Justice and Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace after both violated school policies. The groups on Thursday held a rally in which unidentified individuals shouted anti-Semitic statements and intimidated students, prompting a police response.