A Witch Hunt Is Targeting Black Harvard Faculty
A group of powerful conservatives have started a plagiarism witch hunt. Their targets? Black, female faculty, many of whom study race.
Right-wing activists have levied new plagiarism accusations on a monthly basis. In Dec., conservative activist Christopher F. Rufo and Christopher Brunet reported on accusations against former Harvard University President Claudine Gay. Then, in Jan., the conservative Washington Free Beacon covered a complaint filed against Sherri A. Charleston, Harvard’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. In Feb., anonymous bad actors accused Harvard Extension School administrator Shirley R. Greene of plagiarism. And finally in March, Rufo reported on allegations against Harvard assistant professor of Sociology Christina J. Cross.
Conservatives have emphasized that all four of the accused are Black women.
Harvard Should Break up With the Harris Poll
Harvard is lending its name to a methodologically flawed poll that often promotes a right-wing political agenda.
Every month, the Harvard-Harris Poll (a partnership between Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies, The Harris Poll, and HarrisX) administers a public opinion survey that tracks Americans’ attitudes on a wide range of political and social issues.
It’s no secret that the Harvard-Harris Poll is inaccurate and misleading. A number of experts from both sides of the aisle — including statistician Nate R. Silver, Democratic pollster Geoff D. Garin ’75, Republican pollster Chris Wilson, liberal journalist Josh M.J. Marshall, and conservative law professor Ilya Somin — have criticized the survey. FiveThirtyEight, a public opinion blog that aggregates political polls, recently ranked Harris Insights & Analytics in the bottom 50 percent of American pollsters.
Antisemitism Continues to Thrive in Garber’s Harvard
Since interim University President Alan M. Garber ’76 took office, antisemitism has continued to thrive at Harvard. In the first two months of his presidency, Garber hasn’t done any better than his predecessor, former University President Claudine Gay, at addressing this explosion of hatred.
Over winter break, I saw Harvard’s Sidechat page inundated with anonymous hateful messages denying the atrocities of Oct. 7, calling Zionists pedophiles, and promoting theories that Jews control the University. Walking to my first day of classes at the beginning of the semester, I passed by posters of Israeli hostages defaced with hateful phrases like “Israel did 9/11.” One Harvard employee even defended this disgusting graffiti, threatening a Jewish Harvard Divinity School student on TikTok and challenging him to a debate about Israel’s role in the 9/11 attacks.
Most recently, on Feb. 19, two pro-Palestine student organizations and Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine posted a deeply antisemitic cartoon on Instagram, which portrayed Jews as puppet masters strangling an Arab and Black person. Antisemitism on campus has become so widespread that some students have given up wearing kippahs for fear of being identified as Jewish.
Let Fascist Republicans Speak at Harvard
We should invite MAGA Republicans to speak at Harvard — even though they’re fascists. Let me explain.
Each year, the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Harvard Kennedy School hosts speaker events with some of the world’s most powerful leaders. Since August 2023, the Forum has invited 11 Republican politicians to speak.
That number isn’t small, and I applaud the Forum’s efforts to introduce intellectual diversity by platforming conservative opinions that are underrepresented on campus. As a matter of fact, if you attended those events, you might actually get a positive sense of the Republican Party — a sense that it supports democracy, patriotism, and moderation.
‘From the River to the Sea’ for Me — But Not for Thee
Since Hamas’ bloody terrorist attack on Oct. 7, the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has become a rallying cry for pro-Palestine activists at Harvard and around the world.
While activists claim that this chant calls for freedom and human rights for Palestinians, critics — including several Jewish organizations, powerful Harvard donors like Bill A. Ackman ’88, and even former University President Claudine Gay — have condemned the phrase and argued that it’s often perceived as an antisemitic threat.
As a Jewish student and a liberal Zionist, I agree with many of these criticisms. I’m disturbed that my classmates have chanted this phrase despite Hamas adopting it as one of their slogans. For many, the chant implies ethnic cleansing — and, for some, genocide — of Jewish Israelis.
Jenny Martínez for Harvard President: A Free Speech Leader for a Polarized Era
President Gay is gone, and Harvard must rebuild.
Ever since Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7th, our campus has been in turmoil. Students have organized protests of a scope and scale not seen since the Vietnam War. Harvard has repeatedly made national headlines for its tepid and flawed response to the crisis. Most recently, an onslaught of attacks from right-wing activists toppled our president, making Gay’s tenure of six months and two days the shortest in the University’s history.
After the chaos of the fall semester, the months ahead will be critical for the University to restore its reputation and heal the divisions on campus. Over the course of this semester, my column will discuss Harvard’s long road to recovery.