Harvard may be taking a step back from issuing political statements based on new policy recommendations from a university working group in the wake of controversy over its response to the Israel-Hamas war.
On Tuesday, Interim Harvard President Alan Garber confirmed the school will follow a report from an “Institutional Voice” faculty task force that advised not to “issue official statements about public matters that do not directly affect the university’s core function.”
“There will be close cases where reasonable people disagree about whether a given issue is or is not directly related to the core function of the university,” the report stated. “The university’s policy in those situations should be to err on the side of avoiding official statements.”
These guidelines would likely apply to administrators, deans, board members and faculty councils.
The group emphasized, however, that students and individuals are free to make public statements on issues, though the school must stress that they do not represent Harvard’s position as a whole.
“Individuals within the university, exercising their academic freedom, sometimes make statements that occasion strong disagreement,” the report stated. “When this happens, the university should clarify that they do not speak for the university and that no one is authorized to speak on behalf of the university except the university’s leadership.”
The group also stated that the school should be free to take positions on issues that directly involve the university.
“The University is regularly under attack today, as truth itself is under attack,” “Institution Voice” co-chair Noah Feldman said to the Harvard Crimson. “This report says the University should not be neutral in that important matter of the future of universities.”
Garber acknowledged that transitioning to a more neutral stance would “require time and experience,” and Feldman added that it is an “independent decision” by Harvard whether it would translate to active decisions like divestment.
“It’s totally appropriate for the University to explain its position on investment or divestment,” Feldman said. “But we don’t think that our recommendations on institutional voice dictate an answer.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard University for a comment.
The “Institution Voice” group was formed in April following ongoing controversies the school faced over its reaction to the Israel-Hamas war. Harvard initially released a statement two days after the deadly Oct. 7 attack that offered condolences for the “death and destruction.”
Harvard was then forced to release an additional statement after over two dozen student groups signed a joint statement condemning Israel as “entirely responsible” for the attacks.
“As the events of recent days continue to reverberate, let there be no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region. Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership,” then-Harvard President Claudine Gay said in October.
Gay infamously resigned after her own controversy including several plagiarism allegations and saying whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated campus rules depends on the “context.”
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