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Harvard suspends leading pro-Palestinian campus group
The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee has made headlines and gained national notoriety on several occasions since the outset of the Israel-Hamas war.
After finding itself at the center of several recent campus controversies, a pro-Palestinian Harvard University student group now says it has been suspended amid escalating tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.
The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee announced the suspension in a statement posted to Instagram Monday.
“For the past 6 months, PSC has faced unprecedented repression — doxxing, racist harassment, and targeted administrative crackdowns — as we’ve protested the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the group wrote. “After being placed on an illegitimate & retroactive probation, PSC has been suspended.”
A Harvard spokesperson did not respond to a request to confirm the suspension.
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Student newspaper The Harvard Crimson obtained an email indicating the university ordered PSC to “cease all organizational activities for the remainder of the Spring 2024 term,” at risk of permanent expulsion. Harvard previously placed the group on probation in March, the Crimson reported.
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“The organization will not be recognized and will not have access to university benefits and services during this time, including but not limited to use of campus space and appropriate use of the Harvard name,” the email obtained by the Crimson reportedly stated.
PSC has made headlines and gained national notoriety on several occasions since the outset of the Israel-Hamas war last fall. Soon after Hamas’s Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel plunged the region into violent conflict, PSC circulated a letter co-signed by dozens of student organizations.
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” they wrote. “Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum.”
Immediate backlash followed, landing Harvard in the international spotlight and resulting in threats and intimidation for students linked to the letter.
Last fall, PSC disputed allegations of harassment after a viral video showed a tense confrontation at one of the group’s demonstrations outside Harvard Business School. Back in February, several of Harvard’s pro-Palestinian groups also faced accusations of antisemitism after PSC and another student organization shared an inflammatory cartoon on social media.
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Campus tensions have continued to roil amid a mounting death toll in Gaza; more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory military offensive, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing data from the local ministry of health.
According to the Crimson, PSC was one of several student groups to stage a rally in Harvard Yard Friday after more than 100 Columbia University students were arrested for participating in a pro-Palestinian demonstration last week. Harvard has also restricted access to Harvard Yard until Friday in anticipation of further protests.
When notifying PSC of its suspension, Harvard allegedly cited Friday’s event and noted that the group failed to register the demonstration and violated protest guidelines, the Crimson reported.
In a statement provided to Boston.com, a Harvard spokesperson said the college “works closely with our recognized independent student organizations to ensure they are following existing policies outlined in the Student Organization Resource Guide and all College and University expectations.”
Harvard “is committed to applying all policies in a content-neutral manner and in close partnership with our student organizations,” the statement continued. “All student organizations are required to participate annually in training on these policies, and any organization found in violation of the policy is subject to corrective action.”
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News of PSC’s suspension generated outrage among pro-Palestinian activists on campus. In a statement on Instagram, Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said the university has “summarily disposed of academic freedom and constitutionally protected freedoms of dissent in an effort to silence students speaking out against apartheid, occupation and genocide.”
The faculty group called on Harvard to reinstate PSC and affirmed students’ rights to free speech and political expression.
“We support their commitment to advocating for meaningful change and their decision to stand in solidarity with their peers at Columbia University and elsewhere as they call for divestment from institutions with financial ties to Israel’s war on Gaza and to settlements in the West Bank,” Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine wrote.
For its part, PSC remained defiant in the face of administrative reprimand.
“You can suspend our organization and threaten our students. But you will never silence our calls for divestment from apartheid, occupation, [and] genocide,” the group wrote on Instagram. “We call on the Harvard community to fight against repression and join the movement for Palestinian liberation. History is watching you.”
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