Harvard University last week launched an advisory board to "disrupt and dismantle" anti-Semitism on campus.
"They will help us to identify all the places—from our orientations and trainings to how we teach—where we can intervene to disrupt and dismantle this ideology, and where we can educate our community so that they can recognize and confront antisemitism wherever they see it," said President Claudine Gay on Friday at Harvard Hillel, a campus organization for Jewish students.
Gay in her speech condemned "a surge in anti-Jewish incidents and rhetoric across the nation—and on our own campus" in the aftermath of Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attacks, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians.
"Here at Harvard," Gay said, "I’ve heard story after story of Jewish students feeling increasingly uneasy or even threatened on campus. We should all be alarmed by this. I am. I want to acknowledge the profound toll this has taken, especially on our Jewish students, faculty, and staff. Your grief, fear, and anger are heard and felt deeply."
She named several ways the "lie" at the core of anti-Semitism—"the denial of Jewish identity and experience"—has manifested itself throughout history.
"This lie has taken many forms, from Holocaust denial to the blood libel to conspiracy theories to the denial of the Jewish peoples’ historical ties to the land of Israel," Gay said. "Harvard is a place for inquiry and vigorous debate about our world’s greatest challenges. A place to reveal truth, not to deny facts."
Gay's announcement comes amid criticism over her response to the Oct. 7 attacks. The first statement she issued noted that the university was "heartbroken by the death and destruction unleashed by the attack by Hamas," but it did not condemn the terrorist group directly. The message drew condemnation from the likes of former Harvard president Larry Summers and Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D., Mass.), prompting Gay to release a new statement that explicitly condemned Hamas's atrocities.
Also in the aftermath of the attacks, dozens of student groups at Harvard signed on to a statement that blamed Israel for the Hamas attacks, as its signatories held "the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence" and argued that "the apartheid regime is the only one to blame."
Harvard Hillel responded to the statement by expressing that it was "deeply pained that instead of finding solace and support among our Harvard community in the days following the bloodiest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, we encountered further hatred and anti-Semitism here in Cambridge."
Anti-Semitic incidents have surged at universities across the country. Earlier this month, a person allegedly assaulted an Israeli student at Columbia University while he was hanging up posters of hostages Hamas terrorists captured. Jewish students at Cornell University over the weekend faced online hate messages, including one that threatened to shoot up the building that houses the university's kosher dining hall.