I agree. Although if Harvard wants to silence all peaceful demonstrations regardless of content, I suppose that is up to Harvard. But for many, including some (but not all) of those posting here, content neutral policies are obviously not the driving motivation.
To my mind, when outside observers are outraged that students would wear kaffiyehs and sit silently for an hour, the message is clear. They are looking to completely silence anyone who would dare criticize the government of Israel, no matter how peacefully and quietly. For those of us who abhor antisemitism in any form, but nonetheless do not agree the government of Israel is beyond reproach, that is an untenable and dangerous position.
Early app deadline was Nov 1. The congressional testimony took place after that, and most of the news making protests took place in late October and November. I doubt any of these events caused fewer applicants to apply, as they happened too late in the timeline.
They were holding a big banner falsely and maliciously accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. If they wanted to study en masse in keffiyehs, not great, since the keffiyeh has become a political symbol, too, of terrorist attacks on Israel. But the banner was over the top.
What if a large group of students came in wearing T-shirts with the Confederate flag, took over all the seats in the main room of the library, and held up a large banner claiming, âStop the genocide against Whites in the US!â How do you think that black students would feel, especially if there had recently been a massive attack on them by White Supremacists, in which 1200 blacks had been murdered, and another 240 taken hostage, many of them still held hostage?
This is where Harvard is failing in its response. Harvard strongly discourages microaggressions against every sort of minority - blacks, hispanics, sexual minorities, women (even though weâre not a minority in undergrad education anymore) - but not Jews. And Harvard already has a shameful record of historical antisemitism - after all, they invented the antisemitic college admission quotas in the US. Harvard would not have tolerated the parallel example I cited, not anywhere on campus, and most certainly not as a takeover of the library. But Harvard does not a thing to stop these constant demonstrations which make very clear to Jews, who overwhelmingly support Israelâs right to exist in peace and safety, that weâre not welcome, are in danger and should be afraid. The demonstrators may have stood silently indoors holding a banner with a false, hateful message (and you keep on conveniently failing to mention that banner, for obvious reasons). But by being allowed to do this, they encourage others who will do more, as did the young man at Cornell recently, as did the recent synagogue shooter in Albany, as do those whoâve beaten and stabbed Orthodox Jews on the streets of NYC.
What else do you think could have led to such a precipitous decline in EA applications? Do you think people suddenly cared about the awful food, the substandard crowded vermin-ridden dorms (well, only some of them). The chaotic, last-minute registration process, with academic advising delayed until the very last minute? People never seemed to care about that beforehand, probably because of the tremendous opportunities at Harvard, to be taught by and do research with world-class academicians, to interact with fellow students chosen by a rigorous process, and of course, the prestige of a Harvard degree. I really cannot think why else the sudden drop in applications.
You mean that students who thought that they would have had a chance because of aff action boost, decided not to apply? But that should have held true then for the other Ivies, too, and apparently it didnât. Besides, no one really knows how thatâs going to play out, because of the ginormous âhow has your experience of race affected youâ loophole in the ruling. I donât think itâs that. I do think that a lot of Jewish families considered crossing Harvard off the list, but that should have held true for Penn and Columbia, too, and apparently their numbers didnât drop. So itâs gotta be something else, at least in part.
This isnât supposed to be a politics thread so there is no way to respond to your extraordinarily political and offensive posts within the rules. So I wonât.
I donât think you understood my post. Most of the events that might have caused students to not apply happened very late or after the REA application timeline. So I canât put much faith in this number. If the numbers are down across elite schools next year then that means something.
My first thought is that it wouldnât happen because, despite the âreplacement theoryâ mantra prevalent in some circles, there isnât a prevailing opinion among a large block of Harvard students that white people are being oppressed. In contrast, there is a strong belief among college students and society in general that the government of Israel is oppressing Palestinians, and plenty of facts to support such a belief. That may be a hard truth for many hardcore supporters of the Israeli government to accept, but it is the truth nonetheless.
When anyone who dares to question or criticize the Israeli government (or expresses support of Palestinians) is accused of antisemitism, it feels like an attempt to shut down legitimate dissent, and that makes the conversation unproductive.
The deadline for EA was Nov 1st, I think. The war began with Hamasâ Oct 7th massacre, and immediately after that, over 30 student groups at Harvard issued a joint statement saying that the massacre was Israelâs fault. This was followed by demonstration after demonstration, with chants accusing Israel of genocide and calling for âFrom the River to the Seaâ, and âGlobalize Intifadaâ and âBy Any Meansâ, all of them calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of the State of Israel, and the âdisappearanceâ of all of her Jews. So it is very possible that this could have affected applications, well before the congressional hearings where the 3 college presidents could not bring themselves to outright condemn calls for genocide against Jews.
Iâm not saying that this was the reason for the drop in applications. Frankly, if every Jewish student who might have applied, had not applied, I donât think that would have caused a 17% drop in applications, and Iâd be very, very surprised if any non-Jewish student thought, âThis is absurd, over 30 student groups immediately blaming the victims of a massacre, I donât want to go to such a school!â But I cannot think what else it could be. Maybe students want to go to a campus where the focus is education, instead of knee-jerk, blind, uninformed political activist bandwagon-jumping?
Well, thatâs not how my son reports how students use Widener library. The main halls of Widener are used for studying in groups, not isolation.
If students want a quiet place to study in isolation at Harvard, they can usually find it in their dorm, either in their room or in one of the many other quiet places for study in their dorm building, including study rooms. They donât have to go to into the stacks of Widener for that.
The quote you cite talks about the size of the library, not how spaces are used. Students are resourceful and there are plenty of places to study. Harvard students should be particularly resourceful.
âFliers attached to their individual laptops, as well as affixed to some of the lamps in the reading room, read: âNo Normalcy During GenocideâJustice for Palestine.â A young woman handed the fliers to all who entered.â
"At Harvard University, the rabbi at a menorah lighting ceremony was unusually blunt.
âIt pains me to have to say, sadly, that Jew hate and antisemitism is thriving on this campus,â Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi of Harvard Chabad said on Wednesday.
âTwenty-six years Iâve given my life to this community,â he said. âIâve never felt so alone.â
âŠClaudine Gay, Harvardâs president, stood nearby, waiting to light a candle. As the rabbi spoke, she stared straight ahead, looking stricken."
âŠMeanwhile, according to first-hand reports from our oldest who just spent a few days with his friends on campus, and this NYT piece, things appear to be heading back to normal at MIT.
"On M.I.T.âs campus in Cambridge, where quiet descended this week in the run-up to final exams, there were few signs of disturbance. Many students remained glued to their laptops; social interaction shrank to bare essentials. The largest campus newspaper, The Tech, had no new coverage of the uproar over the hearings.
âŠThe lack of distraction was on brand for M.I.T., the elite science and technology school about two miles from Harvard, which enrolls 4,700 undergraduates and accepts just four percent of applicants. Students and alumni point proudly to the fact that M.I.T. does not make legacy admissions; they describe the school as having a culture of meritocracy, where hard work and ideas trump money and tradition â qualities some see as favorably distinguishing it from Harvard."
