Press statement on Suspension of Student Palestine Solidarity Committee

April 22, 2024

Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine is outraged by the suspension of the Harvard University Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC). For the past 7 months our students have been subjected to an escalating campaign of harassment, intimidation, and racist hate speech, and targeted by some of the University’s wealthiest and most powerful donors and politicians. They have faced threats of physical and sexual violence because of their advocacy for Palestinian rights. Rather than protect them, the university has imposed new regulations aimed at suppressing their voices and enforced existing regulations selectively exposing a clear bias against pro Palestine students.

Today, Harvard College threatened PSC with permanent expulsion if they do not “cease all organizational activities for the remainder of the Spring 2024 term.” In doing so, the university has summarily disposed of academic freedom and constitutionally protected freedoms of dissent in an effort to silence students speaking out against apartheid, occupation and genocide. 

We stand in solidarity with our students and affirm their right to free speech and political expression. We support their commitment to advocating for meaningful change and their decision to stand in solidarity with their peers at Columbia University and elsewhere as they call for divestment from institutions with financial ties to Israel’s war on Gaza and to settlements in the West Bank. 

We call on the administration of Harvard University to reinstate the PSC immediately and drop all charges against our students who are bravely advocating for the oppressed despite the associated risks. We call on Harvard faculty to stand with our students and their allies to protect them from discrimination and defend their rights to free speech and political expression on campus.