Harvard Suspends ‘Palestine Solidarity Committee’

Harvard College has suspended the “Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee” (PSC) on Monday for the remainder of the school year because of an unauthorized protest it held last Friday in solidarity with anti-Israel students at Columbia.

The Harvard Crimson reported:

The suspension comes amid a wave of pro-Palestine student demonstrations across the country, with students staging occupations at universities including Columbia and Yale Universities. Though there have not been occupations at Harvard this semester, the University restricted access to Harvard Yard on Sunday in anticipation of student protests.

The PSC was one of several student organizations, including some unrecognized student organizations, to stage a rally in Harvard Yard on Friday in solidarity with student activists at Columbia, more than 100 of whom were arrested on Thursday by the New York City Police Department.

…

In an email to the PSC, the College specifically cited Friday’s protest when informing the group of its suspension for the remainder of the spring semester, noting that the group had failed to register the demonstration and violated protest guidelines regarding responsible use of space.

The PSC has been involved in controversial tactics before. Last year, it smeared a local rabbi, Hirschy Zarchi of the Harvard Chabad community.

This is a deliberate misquote of @Chabad Rabbi Zarchi, who specifically condemned “monstrous BEHAVIOR” and not people as such. This is an attack on a Jewish religious leader, and, as such, is *another* antisemitic incident at @Harvard. Fight back & donate: https://t.co/Qt7i5sVMhD https://t.co/7ZD66yGPBZ

— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) November 8, 2023

Harvard is among many elite universities hit by a wave of radical anti-Israel protests, which are often also antisemitic.

The PSC has until Wednesday to appeal. If it disobeys its suspension, the radical group could face a permanent ban.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.