Harvard Co-Chair of Antisemitism Task Force Resigns

Harvard University has been under the spotlight over antisemitic attacks against Jewish students on campus.

It did not help matters that when during a congressional hearing, school president Claudine Gay offered up a very questionable response regarding what constitutes a violation of the student code of conduct.

In response, Harvard launched an antisemitism task force, but now one of the co-chairs of the group has resigned.

I Quit

Professor Raffaella Sadun was co-chair of the school’s task force, but it was apparently not a good fit.

Interim president Alan Garber has decided to replace Sadun, announcing the change on Sunday.

Garber tried to sugarcoat this as best he could, stating, "Her insights and passion for this work have helped shape the mandate for the task force and how it can best productively advance the important work ahead.”

He later added, "She has advanced our efforts to be a stronger, more inclusive Harvard and for that we owe her our deep thanks."

The task force itself has come under fire due to the comments made by another member, co-chair Derek Penslar, who is a professor of Jewish history.

Prior to the attack against Israel by Hamas, Penslar had signed a letter that called out Israel and its government for the treatment of Palestinians.

The letter caused outrage among some donors, including Bill Ackman, who had been openly upset with the antisemitism on the campus of Harvard.

After Sadun resigned from the task force, Ackman posted, "The half-life of a Harvard antisemitism task force member is about 60 days. I wonder what's going on."

No matter the spin that Harvard tries to put on this, it is not a good look for a prestigious school that is clearly struggling to keep this problem at bay.

At some point, I would suspect we will get some input about what is really going on in that task force, but for now, we just have to sit back and watch until someone comes forward with the real reason members are dropping like flies.