Garber Says He is ‘Disappointed’ by Student ‘Ignorance’ on Israel-Palestine Conflict

Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 said he was “disappointed” by the widespread ignorance of Harvard students who expressed strong opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict — and their disinterest in learning the facts of the issue.

Speaking at an event in Manhattan, Garber said he was struck both by students who held firm views without a grasp of the underlying history and by those who chose to avoid forming views altogether.

“If you’re going to have strong views about an issue,” he said, “I would hope that at a University you would have the curiosity to learn the facts.”

The remarks mark a shift in emphasis for Garber, who has spent much of the past year warning about deteriorating conditions for free expression on campus. In a December podcast appearance, he argued that Harvard “went wrong” by allowing faculty to inject their personal views into the classroom, a shift he said discouraged open disagreement.

On Monday, Garber made clear he sees the problem extending beyond faculty.

Garber described the attitude among students as “disturbing” and “ignorant,” saying he was especially troubled by a combination of shallow knowledge and reluctance to engage in disagreement.

“What I really felt was most disturbing as a Jewish president, but also somebody who cares personally a lot about the issues that were being discussed, is the level of ignorance among people on all sides of this issue,” he said.

“The lack of knowledge and this unwillingness to have open dialogue pain me even more,” Garber added.

He pointed to what he called an “astounding” example: a student who identified as anti-Zionist because they supported a two-state solution — a position Garber said was mainstream in Israel before October 7.

“Students, you would think, would be better informed than usual,” he said.

Garber also recounted a conversation with a “brilliant” student from China who felt pressure to express solidarity with one side or the other despite not having strong opinions on the issue.

The episode, he suggested, reflects a broader campus climate that leaves little room for uncertainty.

Garber has long framed his presidency as an opportunity to rebuild a robust campus discourse and healthy environment for free speech at Harvard. Just last month, Garber painted disagreement and competition between diverse viewpoints as “a prerequisite for academic rigor” and central to the University’s academic mission in an address at Harvard’s annual Community and Campus Life Forum.

Garber’s comments come as Harvard continues to face intense scrutiny over its handling of campus tensions following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. On March 20, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit alleging the University failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students — and Garber later denounced several of its claims as “meritless.”

While he has acknowledged the presence of antisemitism on Harvard’s campus, Garber has also been careful to denounce the Trump administration’s effort to use antisemitism as justification for broader political attacks on the University.

He reiterated that stance on Monday while pointing to Harvard’s internal efforts to address bias.

Those efforts include two task force reports examining bias toward Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian affiliates. Spanning more than 500 pages, the reports documented numerous instances of bias on campus and issued sweeping recommendations to campus life, curriculum, and admissions.

Garber said that “a great deal” of what had initially been labeled antisemitism was ultimately anti-Israeli bias, which he called “insidious and maybe more corrosive of University life.”

Even so, he said the University has made faster-than-expected progress in improving campus climate.

“I thought it would take three to five years to see progress,” he said. “In fact, we saw progress within a year.”

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.