NEW YORK – Jewish organization leaders at Harvard say they are looking forward to working with interim President Alan Garber, following the fallout with former university president Claudine Gay amid her controversial handling of student responses to the October 7 massacre.
Gay resigned on Tuesday, citing the decision to be “in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.”
Getzel Davis, a campus rabbi for Harvard Hillel, said his organization’s priority was for the university to be a “safe and inclusive environment” for all students.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the next president of Harvard, as well as other senior university administrators, to ensure that Jewish students can safely express their identities on our campus,” he said in a statement. “And at Harvard Hillel, we will continue to focus on keeping students safe, supporting their emotional health, fostering spiritual growth, and sustaining vibrant Jewish life.”
In a letter on December 19, Davis called on campus administrators to focus on rebuilding the community. He outlined specific ways for the university to increase antisemitism education and enforce acceptable speech policies.
Campus rabbi calls on Harvard to fund security for Jewish orgs
Davis also called on the university to fund security personnel for campus Jewish organizations.
“We know that students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds have struggled with the isolation, anger, fear, and sadness of the last two months,” he wrote. “Harvard should serve as a model of a liberal arts institution committed to civilized expression, inquiry, and debate. This requires a strong foundation of civil discourse, and the University must pursue practices, policies, and standards that build a community of mutual respect in an environment free from threats and intimidation.”
In an email to The Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi of Harvard Chabad said Garber was a “personal friend and a man of great integrity and high moral character.”
“In this critical moment in history, we look forward to working with President Garber to ensure that Harvard can be a beacon of light to our students and a world hungry for wisdom and moral clarity,” he said.
The Harvard Kennedy School Jewish Caucus and Israel Caucus declined to comment, as did several other graduate Jewish student associations.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a second-year graduate student at Harvard Divinity School who is researching religion and public policy, spoke to the Post on behalf of the Jewish Student Association at Harvard Divinity School, which he founded and is president of.“Gay’s resignation is an important first step,” he said. “It signifies that hatred of any kind will never be tolerated in higher education. Her resignation has broader implications concerning the national electorate; Jewish people will cease acquiescing to the demands of illiberalism.”
“The next president must strive to move Harvard, and by extension higher education in the United States, towards an environment where Jew-hatred is never tolerated,” Kestenbaum said. “One where there are immediate and clear consequences for students engaged in antisemitism – in the same way there would be if they engaged in any other form of hatred.”
The Undergraduate Association and Harvard Public Affairs and Communications declined to comment.