Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 212

From the Harvard Crimson: More than 18 months after ousting the leaders of its embattled Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard has yet to name a new permanent director — and at least two professors have turned down the job. Dean of Social Science David M. Cutler ’87 dismissed the center’s director, Turkish Studies professor Cemal Kafadar, and its associate director, History professor Rosie Bsheer, in March 2025. Harvard’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors alleged at the time that Cutler made the decision because he felt the center’s programming on Palestine was insufficiently balanced, a characterization Cutler disputed...

CMES became a flashpoint last year in Harvard’s clash with the Trump administration. In March 2025, former University President Lawrence H. Summers said a panel at CMES was “very likely” antisemitic, and other Harvard affiliates had accused the center of platforming antisemitism. Those concerns were amplified in the federal government’s April 11, 2025, letter demanding Harvard make sweeping reforms to keep its federal funding... Though the threats to Harvard’s federal funding have largely subsided, faculty concerns about academic freedom have not...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/11/10/harvard-cmes-director-update/.