- Lawrence H. Summers once served as Harvard’s president.
- He told Bloomberg that Harvard’s antisemitism row would be as tough to manage as the Vietnam War.
- “Perhaps more difficult,” Summer said.
An ex-Harvard president says that managing the ongoing row about on-campus antisemitism is a serious reckoning for the Ivy League university.
“This is as difficult a moment for elite higher education as any moment since the Vietnam War. Perhaps more difficult,” former treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers told Bloomberg in a story published on Monday.
Summers previously expressed disappointment at Gay’s initial silence after Hamas launched a vicious terrorist attack on Israel in October.
“The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups’ statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel,” Summers wrote on X on October 9, referencing a pro-Hamas letter that was signed by a group of Harvard student organizations.
“I am sickened. I cannot fathom the Administration’s failure to disassociate the University and condemn this statement,” Summers said in a follow-up post.
Gay eventually condemned Hamas’ attack on October 10, noting in her statement that the controversial letter didn’t represent Harvard or its leadership.
Summers declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider.
Harvard has found itself in the spotlight in the past two months for its approach toward on-campus antisemitism. The university’s president Claudine Gay has faced growing calls to resign following her congressional testimony on the topic last week.
During the hearing, Gay was repeatedly asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s rules on bullying and harassment.
“It can be, depending on the context,” Gay replied.
Gay’s response drew widespread backlash from politicians as well as business executives such as fund manager Bill Ackman and Pfizer chief Adam Bourla.
“In her short tenure as President, Claudine Gay has done more damage to the reputation of Harvard University than any individual in our nearly 500-year history,” Ackman wrote in his third open letter to Harvard’s leadership, where he called for Gay’s removal.
Though Gay’s position may appear tenuous, she continues to enjoy the support of her colleagues as well as Harvard’s alumni association.
More than 700 current faculty members have signed an open letter urging Harvard’s board not to oust Gay, per The Harvard Crimson.
“President Gay is the right leader to guide the University during this challenging time. We are confident President Gay will address antisemitism, and other forms of hate, effectively and courageously,” the Harvard Alumni Association Executive Committee said in a letter obtained by the student newspaper.
