The co-chair of a task force established by Harvard University to combat anti-Semitism resigned on Sunday. It was the second high-profile resignation in the university's efforts to address complaints of growing discomfort on campus by Jewish students since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. .
Co-chair Rafaela Sadoun, a professor of business administration, did not give a reason for her resignation, but one of her colleagues said she seemed frustrated by how long it was taking to make progress on resolving the issue.
“Essentially, her conclusion was that she did not feel confident or satisfied that she could lead and influence this process in a way that made sense to her,” said the Jewish campus organization. said Rabbi Hershey Zarchi of Chabad at Harvard University. He said he had spoken to several people familiar with Dr. Sadun's thinking.
Nationally prominent Rabbi David Wolpe, after widely criticizing former Harvard University President Claudine Gay's testimony before Congress regarding campus anti-Semitism, announced in early December that his former Anti-Semitism Advisory Committee resigned. “Both the events on campus and the woefully inadequate testimony reinforced the belief that I could not bring about the change I had hoped,” he wrote to X at the time.
And in January, it was revealed that Derek Pensler, co-chair of the current task force, had signed a letter calling Israel an “apartheid regime,” raising questions about whether he had any benefits. There were protests from many pro-Israel students and alumni. at the center.
Dr. Sadun did not respond to emails and phone messages asking about his retirement. But the uproar shows just how volatile the environment at Harvard has been since Hamas's attack on Israel. The attack, and Harvard's often fumbling response to it, has reinforced longstanding fears among Jewish students and alumni that they no longer feel completely at home at the Ivy League school.
Some Jewish students have given up their kipas (skull caps) and are now wearing baseball caps. They say they now keep their Zionist beliefs secret in classrooms and dormitories.
Last week, a pro-Palestinian student group circulated a cartoon on Instagram showing a black man and an Arab man with a noose around their necks, with a Star of David and a dollar sign on their hands.
Following complaints about the cartoon, the student body and its associated faculty group apologized for the image.
Dr. Sadun's resignation is the latest in a series of stumbles in Harvard's efforts to address anti-Semitism on campus.
Last year, Dr. Gay established an advisory committee to combat anti-Semitism. On December 5, she testified before a Congressional committee, and she gave a legalistic answer to a question about whether Harvard University would punish students who called for the genocide of Jews.
Rabbi Wolpe's resignation came two days later, and on January 2, Dr. Gay resigned under pressure. Later that month, Alan M. Garber, who became interim president of Harvard University, created two new task forces on anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry.
He appointed Dr. Sadun and Dr. Pensler as co-chairs of the Select Committee on Anti-Semitism. Dr. Sadun was seen as a counterweight to Dr. Pensler, a Jewish history professor who was facing protests.
“She is someone who was supposed to be a reassuring voice and a leader on the task force,” Rabbi Zarchi said.
Dr. Pensler, who still heads the task force, minimized the extent of anti-Semitism at Harvard in an interview shortly after taking office, but failed to resolve the issue. In an interview with the Boston Globe, he questioned how serious the problem of anti-Semitism on campus is.
“It's not a myth, but it's exaggerated,” Dr. Pensler was quoted as saying.
He said that even before Oct. 7, some Jewish students were being “excluded” from the “progressive political community” because of their attachment to Israel. “Is it vicious anti-Semitism? No,” he told the Globe. “But it is a form of social exclusion and social pressure.”
But his supporters note that he also told the Globe that Israel is “a nation that has every right to exist.”
Despite accepting Dr. Sadun's resignation on Sunday, the university announced the members of both task forces and named law professor Jared Elias to replace Dr. Sadun.
Dr. Gerber, the university's interim president, said in a statement that “division on campus continues, and over the past five months, grief, anger, and fear have taken a toll on members of our community.” Ta. “We have to do more to bridge the cracks.”
alain draquelier Contributed to research.
