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November 4

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, 2023

Dear President Gay,

I am writing this letter to you regretfully. Never did I think I would have to write a letter to the president

of my alma mater about the impact of her actions and inactions on the health and safety of its student

body in order to help catalyze necessary change. For the past four weeks since the horrors of October 7

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Last Wednesday, I spent seven hours on campus meeting with Jewish, Israeli, and non-Jewish students

and faculty at the Law School, at HBS and in a 90-minute town hall in Aldrich 112 with 230 Jewish

college students (coincidentally, one for each hostage held by Hamas), research staff, and faculty from the

University at large, organized by Harvard Chabad. Over the course of the day, it became clear that the

situation at Harvard is dire and getting worse, much worse than I had realized.

Jewish students are being bullied, physically intimidated, spat on, and in several widely-disseminated

videos of one such incident, physically assaulted. Student Slack message boards are replete with

antisemitic statements, memes, and images. On-campus protesters on the Widener Library steps and

elsewhere shout “Intifada! Intifada! Intifada! From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free!” as they

knowingly call for violent insurrection and use eliminationist language seeking the destruction of the

intent of placing the victim in fear of bodily harm or death,” if Harvard indeed had a strong track record

of protecting free speech, many would have taken your support for free speech more seriously.

Unfortunately, Harvard has not embraced a serious commitment to free speech, particularly so in recent

years.

In The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) Annual College Free Speech Rankings,

Harvard has consistently finished in the bottom quartile in each of the past four years, with its ranking

deteriorating each year. On September 23

Harvard achieved its lowest free speech ranking ever for the 2023 academic year, ranking last out of 254

universities, with a rating of 0.00, the only university with an “abysmal” speech climate. See:

need to remove their mezuzahs, yarmulkes, Stars of David, and other overt evidence of their religion and

heritage on campus and in Cambridge to avoid being exposed to discrimination, bullying or worse.

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I am incredibly saddened to say that Harvard has also become a place where Jewish students are

concerned about the threat of physical violence (which likely has a corresponding impact on their mental

health) while among other insults, they are forced to sit next to classmates who openly and comfortably

post, under their actual names, antisemitic statements and imagery on the student-wide Slack message

system with no consequences for their actions.

And it is not just the Jewish students and faculty that are up in arms. While on campus, I heard a constant

refrain from non-Jewish members of the Harvard community:

Inclusion and Belonging (“OEDIB”) is an important contributing factor to the problem. I was surprised

In other words, Jews and others who are not on the above list are not welcome to join. When

inclusion and belonging as the pathway to achieving inclusive excellence and fostering a campus culture

where everyone can thrive” – does not welcome Jewish students, we have a serious problem. It is

abundantly clear that the campus culture that is being fostered at Harvard today is not one where everyone

is included, feels a sense of belonging, welcomes diversity, or is a place where “everyone can thrive.”

Equity on Campus

The issue of equity, or the lack thereof, was another issue about which I heard constant complaints, i.e.,

the so-called “double standard.” One member of the faculty rhetorically asked:

, 2020 that ‘George Floyd had it coming,’ noting that you have yet to condemn the

Other faculty, alumni and students asked other rhetorical questions including:

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Despite the outburst of antisemitic activities and protests on campus, the first initiative that Harvard took

to protect students was the establishment on October 24

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of a task force to “support students experiencing

doxxing, harassment, and online security issues following backlash against students allegedly affiliated

with a statement that held Israel ‘entirely responsible’ for violence in the Israel-Hamas conflict.” The

creation of this task force sent a very strong message that the University was not just ignoring the

antisemitic incidents and threats to Jewish student safety on campus, but rather it was taking sides in the

conflict by only supporting students who held Israel responsible for Hamas’ vile acts.

In summary, your failure to condemn the barbaric acts of October 7

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opened the door for a wave of anti-

Israel attacks on campus that have led to a growing number of antisemitic protests and actions. Your

subsequent two statements about October 7

to the university attempting to address the failings of your

first letter were not taken seriously as many perceived those statements as being driven by pressure from

“Narrow Casting”

Finally, your announcement on Friday October 27

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about launching a task force to address antisemitism

and your statement that “Antisemitism has no place at Harvard” was welcomed by members of the Jewish

community in attendance, but students who participated in my Thursday town hall were either unaware of

that announcement or alternatively questioned your commitment to address antisemitism.

At my town hall, it was noted that your antisemitism speech was made only to Jewish students and

parents at a Hillel Shabbat dinner, and a transcript of your remarks was only given to and published in the

Forward, a niche Jewish publication with a tiny subscriber base. Two members of the Harvard faculty

described this as “narrow casting” to an affinity group rather than you making a serious public

hear their concerns first-hand.

Antisemitism at Harvard Prior to October 7th

In the transcript of your speech published in the Forward, you said about antisemitism at Harvard: “For

years, this university has done too little to confront its continuing presence. No longer.”

mentor current students and recent graduates on a regular basis, and have been a member of the Dean’s

Advisory Board at the business school for many years. During this period, I have neither experienced nor

have I become aware of any antisemitic incidents at Harvard until beginning four weeks ago.

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When I asked my daughter today about her experience with antisemitism at Harvard (she graduated in

2020), she described antisemitism when she was at Harvard as “non-existent.” While I am sure it is

possible if not likely that there have been some antisemitic incidents at Harvard over the last 35 years, the

reality is that Harvard has been an extremely comfortable place to be Jewish and/or Israeli, up until the

last four weeks.

In truth, the outburst at antisemitism at Harvard is a recent one and is largely due to your actions and

inactions and that of the administration and the University at large in failing to appropriately address

blatant antisemitism on campus.

How Can You Solve the Problem?

What I find particularly upsetting about recent events on campus is that the problem is not so difficult to

immediately.

First, the students involved in harassing and allegedly physically assaulting the HBS student on October

police department review of the situation to take action, but this makes no sense. It is clear from the

multiple videos available of the incident that the conduct of the protesters involved does not meet the

standards for student conduct outlined in the Harvard College Student Handbook, in particular Harvard’s

anti-bullying policies outlined in the Report & Recommendation from the Anti-Bullying Working Group

adopted on September 1, 2023. https://communitymisconductpolicies.harvard.edu/reports-and-draft-

policies These standards alone are enough to invoke Disciplinary Probation until such time as the police

Taking decisive action now will put all Harvard students, faculty and staff on notice that the University

takes violations of Harvard’s code of conduct seriously, and will bring great comfort to the Jewish

Second, the protesters who have been chanting Intifada and other eliminationist statements should be

subject to disciplinary action. There are multiple videos available of the various protests that would

enable the University to identify the individuals involved who can then be referred to the Administrative

Board where appropriate disciplinary action can be determined and acted upon.

Fourth, the University should publicly reach out to students in an effort to obtain other examples of

should be taken.

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Because Harvard students are notoriously focused on their job and career prospects post-graduation,

disciplinary actions by the administration for failure to meet the University’s standards for appropriate

conduct that become part of a student’s permanent record should serve as an effective deterrent to overt

antisemitic acts on campus. No law firm, corporation or graduate program will hire or admit an

antisemitic or racist student. I note that the recent letter to the deans of law schools around the country

signed by many of the top law firms in the U.S. has, I am told, already begun to have an effect in reducing

antisemitic acts at the Law School.

Fifth, the University should form a task force to review the appropriateness of the activities of the OEDIB

and whether its practice of excluding certain minority communities on campus, including Asian and

Jewish students, is appropriate, which in fact may be contributing to discrimination against these groups

on campus.

with Harvard’s values or considered appropriate conduct for members of the Harvard community. In

connection with your commitment to free speech, Harvard should form a task force to understand the

constraints on free speech at Harvard that have led to it ranking last on FIRE’s annual college survey, so

the issues that have led to Harvard’s last-place ranking can be addressed.

Violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

On September 28, 2023, the Biden Administration issued a clarifying release stating that Title VI of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits certain forms of antisemitism, Islamophobia and related discrimination

as part of its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism released in May 2023

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/U.S.-National-Strategy-to-Counter-

and privately shared these same concerns, important sources of Harvard’s revenues are at risk. While the

University should not need a financial incentive to eliminate discrimination on campus, Harvard’s recent

failure to create a safe and non-discriminatory environment for Jewish students threatens the University’s

antisemitism in all of its forms.

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History has taught us that when the sparks and initial flames of antisemitism emerge, we must promptly

put out the flames before a conflagration begins. It is therefore critically important you act with alacrity

in addressing these issues. I encourage you to act boldly and promptly to eliminate this scourge at

Harvard.

I also call upon you to complete the commitment you made at inauguration when you stated that

“Knowledge is our purpose. We serve that purpose best when we commit to open inquiry and freedom of

expression as foundational values of the academic community.” Harvard must create an environment

where free speech is encouraged and accepted. At the same time, the Harvard community at large must

understand the difference between speech protected by the First Amendment and speech that incites

violence or seeks the elimination of any group. Such speech does not advance knowledge nor does it