Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 80

From the Harvard Crimson: The removal of a weeklong exhibit by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee in the Science Center plaza led to a confrontation between former University President Lawrence H. Summers and College administrators on Thursday afternoon. The “Wall of Resistance,” built of six painted wooden panels designed and installed by PSC members, was the latest iteration of the organization’s annual exhibit condemning Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. This year’s wall featured artwork and text condemning Israel’s killing of young children and aid seekers in Gaza and calling for Harvard to divest from Israel.

The exhibit was erected on Sunday and scheduled for removal by PSC members on Thursday at noon. Less than two hours before the planned removal, Harvard Chabad announced an address by Summers criticizing the wall, which coincided with its scheduled takedown. The removal was planned in advance in accordance with University guidelines preventing the installation from remaining in place for longer than five days. 

According to Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, it was Summers who had suggested holding an event at the wall in a phone call to him earlier that day, expressing his upset at the installation... During the event, attended by more than 50 Harvard affiliates, Summers condemned the installation as “antisemitic” and “the moral equivalent of racism.” “I do not believe that if the doctrines of the Ku Klux Klan were proposed for installation in the Science Center, that that would be permitted and that would be enabled by those who lead us in this community,” Summers said...

Several minutes after noon, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh and Dean of Students Thomas G. Dunne briefly interrupted the event to ask Summers to move away from the wall so that the removal could continue safely... Summers refused to move, saying “I am going to finish my remarks.” ... Shortly after his speech, Summers and Claybaugh engaged in a heated exchange over her intervention in the event...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/24/summers-confrontation-psc-wall/.