Larry Summers blasts Harvard over antisemitism: ‘I have lost confidence’

By Matt Egan, CNN

New York (CNN) — Famed economist Larry Summers slammed Harvard’s top leaders on Sunday over concerns about how the Ivy League school is fighting antisemitism.

Summers, a former president of Harvard, strongly criticized the selection of Harvard professor Derek Penslar as the co-chair of a newly-formed presidential task force on antisemitism.

“I have lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish,” Summers said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The backlash underscores how Harvard remains under close scrutiny even after the resignation earlier this month of Claudine Gay as university president. Lawmakers and federal officials are investigating Harvard’s handling of antisemitism on campus and a House panel is probing how the school handled the plagiarism allegations surrounding Gay.

Even efforts to fight antisemitism are creating controversy.

Summers, a former top adviser to Presidents Clinton and Obama, argued that Penslar is “unsuited” to co-chair the task force because he has “publicly minimized” Harvard’s antisemitism problem.

“Could one imagine Harvard appointing as head of anti-racism task force someone who had minimized the racism problem or who had argued against federal anti-racism efforts?” Summers said.

Why Penslar is a controversial choice

Earlier this month, Penslar suggested the problem of antisemitism at Harvard may have been exaggerated by “outsiders.”

“Yes, we have a problem with antisemitism at Harvard, just like we have a problem with Islamophobia and how students converse with each other,” Penslar told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “The problems are real. But outsiders took a very real problem and proceeded to exaggerate its scope.”

In December, Penslar wrote an op-ed in The Crimson calling for a rethink of definitions of antisemitism that include criticism of Israel.

Before the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, Penslar was also one of many academics who signed an open letter arguing that Israel’s “long-standing occupation” of Gaza has “yielded a regime of apartheid.” That same letter, titled “The Elephant in the Room,” stated that the ultimate purpose of the controversial judicial overhaul is to “ethnically cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian population.”

Although Summers said Penslar is a “person of good will without a trace of personal” antisemitism, the economist still called for him to step aside as co-chair of the task force.

Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, a frequent critic of Harvard leaders, responded to the appointment of Penslar by posting on X: “Harvard continues on the path of darkness.”

Penslar, a professor of Jewish history, referred questions from CNN to Harvard’s media office.

Harvard representatives declined to comment.

The American Academy for Jewish Research, which describes itself as the “oldest organization of Jewish studies in North America”, issued a statement on Sunday defending Penslar, who previously led the group.

“Professor Penslar is a prolific scholar with a stellar international reputation,” the group said. “It is precisely this kind of expertise that is needed in the current moment.”

The American Academy for Jewish Research added that it was “dismayed by the attacks being leveled against Penslar’s scholarship and his commitment to the task force’s work.”

Two Harvard professors, Alison Frank Johnson and Steven Levitsky, penned an op-ed in the Crimson on Monday defending Penslar as the “right choice” and arguing his “academic credentials stnd out even by Harvard’s standards.”

“Unfortunately, the leadership of the antisemitism task force was immediately attacked by outside political forces,” they wrote, “threatening to undermine its work before it even begins.”

Fighting antisemitism on campus

Alan Garber, Harvard’s interim president, unveiled a pair of presidential task forces on Friday designed to fight both antisemitism and Islamophobia. The task forces will be charged with examining bias, determining root causes and compiling recommendations to combat hate.

“Reports of antisemitic and Islamophobic acts on our campus have grown, and the sense of belonging among these groups has been undermined,” Garber said in the announcement. “We need to understand why and how that is happening—and what more we might do to prevent it.”

Notably, Summers directly criticized the Harvard Corporation, the secretive yet powerful board that runs the university.

The Corporation, run by billionaire former Obama Cabinet secretary Penny Pritzker, has faced scrutiny for how it handled the crisis at the school.

Summers said he hopes “Harvard’s leadership will recognize that they have exacerbated Harvard’s credibility problems on anti-Semitism with the Penslar appointment and take steps to retore their credibility.”

The former Harvard president noted that amid the turmoil, the school’s early admissions applications tumbled through November 1.

“As things currently stand, I am unable to reassure Harvard community members, those we are recruiting or prospective students that Harvard is making progress in countering anti-Semitism,” Summers said.

Concerning content online

Harvard officials recently met with executives from social media app Sidechat to discuss concerning content on the platform that allows users to make anonymous posts.

The meeting comes amid concerns about a spike in antisemitic messages on Sidechat, which is popular among college students. 

A Harvard spokesperson confirmed to CNN on Monday that the university has “taken steps to address the concerning content,” including by meeting with Sidechat leaders.

Harvard received “reassurances that content will be moderated according to their terms of use and community guidelines, and that membership in the Harvard community space will be strictly limited to current College students,” the spokesperson said.

Harvard has also forwarded a sample of content to the university’s police department to determine whether the posts warrant law enforcement action, the spokesperson said, adding that going forward concerning content will be escalated directly to Sidechat leaders.

The Harvard Crimson previously reported on the university’s interface with Sidechat. Executives from Sidechat did not respond to requests for comment from CNN.

Sidechat is a social media platform that allows students to log in with their university email addresses to make anonymous posts. It has in the past been hailed as a way for students to combat mental health struggles, giving them an outlet to vent about struggles they may not want their Instagram followers to know about.

However, some students have described a surge in antisemitic posts on Sidechat recently.

A lawsuit filed against Harvard earlier this month by Jewish students over alleged antisemitism on campus stated that after Claudine Gay resigned as president “antisemitic messages were plastered all over Harvard’s community group” on Sidechat.

That lawsuit listed multiple examples, including one message on Sidechat that said: “All you Zionists are the same. Killers and rapists of children!”

Another message, according to the lawsuit, expressed support for Hamas and for the October 7th attack as “a moment of decolonization.”

“The antisemitism on Sidechat is appalling,” Jacob Miller, who chairs the Crimson’s editorial board and previously served as president of the Harvard Hillel, said in a post on X.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.