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New York Post
02-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Harvard yearbook erases Oct 7 massacre but includes pic of John Harvard statue in Palestinian keffiyeh: ‘Whitewashing terrorism'
Harvard needs a history lesson, according to students outraged over its 2025 yearbook ignoring the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel. The book instead depicts only Israel's aggression in Gaza, with its October 2023 entry including a photo of the famous John Harvard statue draped in a keffiyeh with a caption reading 'War breaks out in Gaza.' The official Harvard yearbook, the 520–page book aimed to capture the 'Harvard experience' and described as 'Harvard. Immortalized,' shocked graduating seniors when they flipped through the pages recapping every month since their freshman year. 10 The incendiary page in the Harvard 2025 yearbook which states '2023 October war breaks out in Gaza' in front of a picture of university founder John Harvard's statue with a keffiyeh around his shoulders and a sign reading Eyes on Gaza in front. The next page marks the end of the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) encampment after 20 days. Harvard Chabad/ X 10 A student protester in a Palestinian keffiyeh stands in front of the statue of John Harvard which has been draped in the Palestinian flag in April 2024. AP 'It's deeply offensive,' newly minted graduate Alex Bernat, who has seen the page firsthand, told The Post. He added he was 'shocked' by the complete whitewashing of the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust that left 1,200 murdered, thousands injured and saw 251 abducted into Gaza and held hostage – 58 of whom have yet to be returned. 'They totally mischaracterized in a very irresponsible way the beginnings of everything on October 7, the actual thing that prompted the war on Gaza.' The treasured yearbook that's meant to 'reflect on your time in college' turned into a 'completely biased representation of the events of October 2023,' blasted the Jewish grad, adding there is no excuse for yearbook editors – a group of 20 students listed on the site – to gloss over the atrocities that precipitated the war. 'They know exactly how the events of October 7 transpired … It's such an easy thing to get right – and the fact that they didn't is really concerning,' the 23-year-old Chicago native said. Although school is out for summer at the embattled Ivy League institution, it's still under fire for being a hotbed of hate. 10 Palestine supporters, many from Harvard, rallying in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in October 2023. AFP via Getty Images 10 Jewish students and supporters gathered at a Menorah lighting ceremony on Harvard's campus after the Israel-Hamas war had started. Then-president Claudine Gay was in attendance (pictured center left). David McGlynn 10 Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned from the University in January 2024 amid plagiarism accusations and a weak response to antisemitism on campus. AP President Donald Trump has pulled over $3bn in funding from the University, and the White House has instructed federal agencies to review approximately $100m in contracts the government has with Harvard and find alternatives where possible. Last week Trump said: 'Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they're doing is getting in deeper and deeper and deeper.' The state department has also stopped issuing new student visas nationwide, while a new vetting process is put in place. Harvard's handling of Hamas' terror attack and massacre has caused problems from the start. Hours after the atrocities, a now-infamous screed signed by 31 Harvard student groups blamed the Jewish state, holding 'the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence' – prompting outraged Harvard alums like hedge fund honcho Bill Ackman to call for the entire board of Harvard University to resign. 10 Harvard Divinity School gradujate Shabbos Kestenbaum has slammed the college's yearbook editors for 'not being able to comprehend' that Hamas started the war in Gaza. Getty Images 10 One of the buildings at Harvard University with three red banners displaying the university's crest. MG – 10 The offensive yearbook, branded 'not only factually dishonest — it's historical revisionism,' by Brooke Goldstein, Founder and Executive Director of The Lawfare Project. Harvard Chabad/ X Watchdog groups have also ripped the poisoned Ivy, which saw former president Claudine Gay wither on the vine after her gutless congressional testimony, for letting willful hate fester. 'Harvard's official yearbook description of the October 7 massacre as merely 'war breaking out in Gaza' is not only factually dishonest — it's historical revisionism. By erasing the brutal, premeditated slaughter of over 1,200 Israelis, Harvard is whitewashing terrorism and contributing to the narratives that justify the ongoing genocide against the Jewish people,' Brooke Goldstein, Founder and Executive Director of The Lawfare Project, told The Post. 'This isn't just a failure of language — it's a moral failure. Harvard has become a symbol of elite radicalization. This is an American problem, not just a Jewish one.' The galling omission is tantamount to 'Holocaust-like denial,' railed Harvard Chabad, the Jewish movement that supports students on campus. 10 A protester at Harvard with a sign reading 'END THE OCCUPATION NOW!' REUTERS 10 A sign reading Harvard at the university's campus in Boston, Massachusetts AFP via Getty Images Francesca Albanese, the controversial UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, who's been accused of spewing antisemitism, appeared at Harvard last year in an event described as 'exploring how certain concepts from international law, such as 'occupation,' 'apartheid,' and 'genocide,' applied to the situation in and around Gaza.' 'This is what they're being taught,' Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi claimed of the one-sided exposure to students. 'They're being told to be skeptical about what Israel says happened on October 7 and to believe everything from Hamas. 'It's an absolute disgrace.' Harvard Divinity School grad, Shabbos Kestenbaum, who settled an antisemitism lawsuit last month against his alma mater, attacked his former school. 'The murder of 45 American citizens as well as the abduction of 12 Americans on October 7th was a horrific terrorist attack,' the 2024 grad told The Post. 'Harvard students not being able to comprehend that basic fact is deeply disturbing.'
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Harvard president takes a swipe at Trump in commencement speech
Harvard President Alan Garber smugly taunted President Trump as he congratulated students from 'around the world' graduating from the prestigious university. 'From around the world,' he repeated for emphasis. 'Just as it should be.' Students erupted in cheers and gave Garber a standing ovation as he gave the address during Harvard's 2025 commencement. Garber told graduates they should 'expand our thinking and change our minds in the process', and said his 'hope is that you stay comfortable being uncomfortable.' The educator has led Harvard since January 2024 after his predecessor Claudine Gay was ousted following car crash testimony she gave to Congress about the rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses. Garber has gone to war with the Trump administration in recent weeks and has sued the White House over its efforts to block international students, which led the president to sever $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard earlier this month. The Harvard graduates gave him a hero's welcome on stage on Thursday, shortly after U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs ruled that the Trump administration cannot make any changes to Harvard's student visa program. 'I want to maintain the status quo,' the judge said. In her ruling Thursday, Burroughs told Harvard and Justice Department attorneys to work out an agreement that would stop the revocation of foreign student visas. 'It doesn't need to be draconian, but I want to make sure it's worded in such a way that nothing changes,' Burroughs said. The Trump administration had tried to prevent a ruling in Harvard's favor ahead of the mid-morning hearing by backing away from plans to immediately revoke the university's ability to enroll international students. Instead Harvard was given 30 days to challenge the ban. Lawyers for the Justice Department argued to Burroughs that the case might be moot because of the Trump administration's latest procedural move. Harvard has denied Trump administration charges of alleged bias against conservatives , fostering antisemitism on campus and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party. The university has said losing that right would affect about one quarter of its student body and devastate the school. Harvard had argued that the revocation violated its free speech and due process rights under the U.S. Constitution as well as the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs agency actions. Its lawyers said DHS regulations required providing at least 30 days to challenge the agency's allegations, and give Harvard an opportunity to pursue an administrative appeal. That 30 day window was offered ahead of Thursday's court date. The revocation announced on May 22 was an escalation of the Trump administration's attacks on Harvard. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university's lawyers have argued the agency's action was part of an 'unprecedented and retaliatory attack on academic freedom at Harvard,' which is pursuing a separate lawsuit challenging the administration's decision to terminate nearly $3 billion in federal research funding. In a letter that day, she accused the school of refusing to comply with wide-ranging requests for information on its student visa holders, including about any activity they engaged in that was illegal or violent or that would subject them to discipline. 'As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enroll foreign students, and it is also a privilege to employ aliens on campus,' she said. Harvard said the decision was 'devastating' for the school and its student body. The university, the nation's oldest and wealthiest, enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, about 27 percent of its total enrollment. The department's move would prevent Harvard from enrolling new international students and require existing ones to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Harvard University should have a 15 percent cap on the number of non-U.S. students it admits. 'Harvard has got to behave themselves,' he said. Harvard University's commencement ceremonies were happening Thursday amid the court battle. A number of speakers brought up the administration's war on the university during their speeches. 'Part of what makes America great, if I may use that phrase, is that it allows an immigrant like me to blossom,' said commencement speaker, Dr. Abraham Verghese, a best-selling author and Stanford expert on infectious diseases. 'The greatness of America, the greatness of Harvard, is reflected in the fact that someone like me could be invited to speak to you.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Here's everything Trump has stripped from Harvard so far — and what is threatened
The national battle between Harvard University and the Trump administration didn't start this week. The back and forth between the two has been in the works since the beginning of April. The federal government has pinpointed campus antisemitism as the reason for the escalating attacks, though legal scholars and higher education community members have disagreed, claiming it is instead going after Harvard as a symbol of higher education. Concerns around campus antisemitism have been at a fever pitch since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7. Harvard's first Black president, Claudine Gay, took office in 2023 and subsequently resigned after six months in the post amid the war in Gaza — in part over her response to the issue. Harvard has said it has made steps toward addressing antisemitism on campus, including creating task forces on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias and anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias. Those groups released reports at the end of April detailing the discrimination that has taken place since the war in Gaza and recommendations for what should happen next. 'The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful. I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community. The grave, extensive impact of the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and its aftermath had serious repercussions on our campus‚' said Alan Garber, Harvard's president, in a message to the community. The most recent action from the Trump administration against Harvard took place this week when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revoked a key certification allowing Harvard to enroll international students. In response, Harvard filed a complaint and a motion for a restraining order on Friday morning. A federal judge then granted the order. The revocation came after the federal government gave Harvard an ultimatum in April to submit detailed records about foreign students or lose the certification. About 27% of Harvard's undergraduate and graduate students are international, according to 2024 to 2025 data. While Harvard said they gave 'information required by law' about foreign students' illegal activity and records at the end of April, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said it was unsatisfactory. Harvard will have another opportunity if it provides detailed records about international students within 72 hours, according to Noem's letter. The university already offered foreign students to accept admission at Harvard and a foreign institution as a 'backup plan' following the threat of revocation. Outside of the revocation of Harvard's certification to host international students, the Trump administration has gone after billions of dollars of funding to Harvard. It began in April when the Trump administration demanded an overhaul of its leadership structure, admissions and hiring — or risk losing $9 billion in funding, according to the federal government. Harvard rejected those demands, stating that the Trump administration's list of demands looks to 'invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court.' Then the fight over funding came to fruition. It began with a $2.2 billion funding freeze on April 14 after the school refused to comply with the federal administration's demands. In response, Harvard filed a lawsuit on April 21, arguing that its constitutional rights had been violated by the government's threats to pull billions of dollars in funding. Read more: Harvard foreign students feel like 'poker chips,' consider transfer after Trump attacks Harvard president Garber also signed onto a letter with hundreds of other presidents pushing back against 'government overreach and political interference' by the Trump administration. At the beginning of May, the Trump administration said it would bar Harvard University from acquiring new federal grants while the university continues to refuse to comply with the administration's demands for change on its campus. A few days later, eight federal agencies cut $450 million in grants and then the United States Department of Health and Human Services cut $60 million in grants from the university. Harvard went on to amend its lawsuit against the Trump administration. On May 16, a wave of nearly one thousand federal research grant terminations began, amounting to more than $2.4 billion, according to an analysis by Nature. In response, Harvard established a new Presidential Priorities Fund, asking for donations in the midst of federal cuts. Some of Harvard's schools, including its School of Public Health, have even taken to social media to ask for donations after nearly every single federal grant had been terminated. On Monday, multiple U.S. House committees also began investigating Harvard, accusing the institution of collaborating with the Chinese Communist Party, according to a 14-page letter. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party is requesting a series of information about Harvard's activities that 'create risks to U.S. national security and further the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) genocide in Xinjiang.' On April 17, the U.S. Department of Education sent Harvard University a records request on Thursday, demanding that the institution disclose foreign investments. Read more: This is how much Harvard University's top earners made, according to tax filings McMahon called the records request the 'first step to ensure Harvard is not being manipulated by, or doing the bidding of, foreign entities.' Higher education institutions are required to disclose foreign source gifts and contracts with a value of $250,000 or more to the U.S. Department of Education through Section 117 reports. Harvard said it has been doing so for decades as part of ongoing compliance with the law. Around the same time, Trump threatened to end Harvard's tax-exempt status, which he has continued to say he will do, aiming for the institution to instead be taxed as a political entity. Harvard foreign students feel like 'poker chips,' consider transfer after Trump attacks Federal judge blocks Trump admin from revoking Harvard enrollment of foreign students 'Unlawful and unwarranted': Harvard opens 2nd lawsuit against the Trump admin 'Deeply scary': Legal experts reel over Trump's 'brazen act' against Harvard Trump admin blocks international students from Harvard University Read the original article on MassLive.
Al Jazeera
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Timeline: Trump's escalating standoff with Harvard University
The administration of President Donald Trump has taken a hard line against top US universities over their responses to pro-Palestine protests, as well as their diversity initiatives and curricula. The move on Thursday to block Harvard University from enrolling foreign students represents the latest escalation in a months-long standoff, which critics say has been rooted in unfounded claims of rampant anti-Semitism. In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration was 'holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus'. Harvard has called the latest move 'unlawful' and a 'retaliatory action'. Here's how we got here: December 2023: The standoff stretches back to the months following the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, and the resulting Israeli offensive on Gaza, in which at least 53,655 Palestinians have since been killed. Then-Harvard President Claudine Gay's testimony before Congress on the administration's response to pro-Palestine protests sparks outrage, as elected officials, particularly Republicans, call for greater crackdowns. Gay subsequently resigns from her post and is replaced by Alan Garber in August 2024. January 2025: Trump takes office in January 2025, following a campaign where he vowed to crack down on pro-Palestine protests, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, and 'woke ideology' on college campuses. Trump also signs a series of executive orders calling for government agencies to take actions against DEI programmes at private institutions, including universities, and to increase government actions to combat anti-Semitism, particularly on campuses. February 2025: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) launches a task force to 'root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses'. The task force later announces it will visit 10 schools, saying it was 'aware of allegations that the schools may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law'. The schools include Harvard, as well as Columbia University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern California. March 7, 2025: The Trump administration takes its first action against a US university, slashing $400m in federal funding to Columbia University and accusing the school of 'continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students'. A subsequent letter from the Department of Education warns Harvard and dozens of other universities of 'potential enforcement actions'. March 21, 2025: Columbia yields to Trump's demands, which include banning face masks, empowering campus police with arresting authority, and installing a new administrator to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies and the Center for Palestine Studies. March 31, 2025: The US Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the US General Services Administration (GSA) announce an official review of $255.6m in Harvard contracts and $8.7bn in multi-year grants. The review is part of the 'ongoing efforts of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism', the statement said. April 11, 2025: Harvard is sent a letter saying the university has 'failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment' and listing several Trump administration demands. The demands include a governance overhaul that lessens the power of students and some staff, reforming hiring and admissions practices, refusing to admit students deemed 'hostile to the American values and institutions', doing away with diversity programmes, and auditing several academic programmes and centres, including several related to the Middle East. April 14, 2025: Harvard President Garber issues a forceful rejection of the demands, writing: 'The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights'. The US administration announces an immediate freeze on funding, including $2.2bn in multi-year grants and $60m in multi-year contracts. April 15, 2025: In a Truth Social post, Trump floats that Harvard could lose 'Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity'. He accuses Harvard of 'pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness''. April 16, 2025: The Department of Homeland Security calls on Harvard to turn over records on any foreign students' 'illegal and violent activities', while threatening to revoke the university's Student and Exchange Visitor Program approval. The certification is required for it to enrol foreign students. Noem gives an April 30 deadline for this. April 21, 2025: Harvard files a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing it of violating the First Amendment of the US Constitution with 'arbitrary and capricious' funding cuts. April 30, 2025: Harvard says it shared information requested by Noem regarding foreign students, but does not release the nature of the information provided. May 2, 2025: Trump again says the administration will take away Harvard's tax-exempt status. No action is immediately taken. May 5, 2025: The Trump administration says it is cutting all new federal grants to Harvard. May 13, 2025: The US Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announces another $450m in federal funding from eight federal agencies. May 19, 2025: The DOJ announces it will use the False Claims Act, typically used to punish federal funding recipients accused of corruption, to crack down on universities like Harvard over DEI policies. The Department of Health and Human Services also says it is terminating $60m in federal grants to Harvard. May 22, 2025: Noem announces revocation of Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program, blocking it from enrolling new foreign students and saying current students will need to transfer to continue their studies. Harvard responds: 'We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard's ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the university – and this nation – immeasurably.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This is how much Harvard University's top earners made, according to tax filings
Larry Bacow, who was president of Harvard University before Claudine Gay and current president Alan Garber, was the top earner at the institution with a total income of close to $3.1 million, according to the most recent tax filings sent to MassLive. Bacow's compensation includes close to $1.4 million base pay with a bonus and incentive payment of $1.4 million and other payments, including from his deferred compensation account upon his retirement. The tax filings, which are called Form 990, are part of a requirement for nonprofits to disclose the highest earners. The most recent filing is for 2023, also called fiscal year 2024. The people with the highest income after Bacow at Harvard were Harvard Business School professors Paul Healy and Herman Leonard, who received close to $2 million. David Malan, a computer science professor, earned close to $1.4 million. Former president Claudine Gay and previous dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences earned a total of close to $1.4 million, according to the filings. Her base pay was over $1 million. Gay was the first Black and second female president of Harvard. She began her presidency in July 2023 but resigned after only six months following plagiarism accusations and a Congressional hearing on campus antisemitism amid the war in Gaza. Gay's base salary is close to $350,000 less than what Bacow made in 2023. Her base salary is less than what he earned in the previous two tax filings. However, her base pay is similar to what Bacow earned in 2020 and more than he made in 2019, according to tax filings. Read more: Harvard president claims he is taking 25% pay cut following federal funding cuts Current president Alan Garber, who was formerly the university's provost in 2023, earned $1.2 million — $922,068 base, plus other compensation of $242,968. Four other faculty and administrators earned over $1 million in total compensation in 2023. Lawrence S. Bacow, former Harvard University President: $3,080,733 Paul M. Healy, Harvard Business School Professor: $1,972,836 Herman B. Leonard, Harvard Business School Professor: $1,889,946 David J. Malan, Computer Science Professor: $1,369,936 Claudine Gay, former Harvard University President and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean: $1,362,955 Alan M. Garber, former Harvard University Provost, current Harvard University President: $1,165,036 Srikant M. Datar, Dean of Harvard Business School: $1,140,102 Linda Hill, Harvard Business School Professor: $1,047,648 Diane Lopez, former Vice President of the Office of General Counsel: $1,045,813 George Q. Daley, Harvard Medical School Dean: $1,013,063 These numbers include their total income, which is their base pay in addition to other payments such as bonuses and retirement contributions. The tax filings of Harvard officials come after President Alan Garber claims that he is taking a voluntary 25% pay cut as the institution faces nearly $3 billion in federal funding cuts by the Trump administration. Harvard University is also barred from acquiring new federal grants, according to the federal administration. The federal government pointed to 'pervasive race discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment' as continuing reasons for cutting federal funding. Harvard announced in March a pause on hiring, which included schools and administrative units to 'scrutinize discretionary and non-salary spending, reassess the scope and timing of capital renewal projects, and conduct a rigorous review of any new multi-year commitments.' A month later, the schools and units in the central administration announced that non-union faculty and staff wouldn't be receiving merit pay increases for the upcoming fiscal year and there would be pauses on non-essential capital projects and spending. 'Harvard's campus, once a symbol of academic prestige, has become a breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination. This is not leadership; it is cowardice. And it's not academic freedom; it's institutional disenfranchisement. There is a dark problem on Harvard's campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school's claim to taxpayer support,' the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said. Garber wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon that they share the same 'common ground,' but the university 'will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear.' Garber pushed back on the administration through a lawsuit in April. The institution argues that its constitutional rights had been violated by the government's threats to pull billions of dollars in funding if the school didn't comply with demands for an overhaul. Following the $450 million announced cuts, the university amended its lawsuit. 'No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' the suit reads. Billionaire speaker gives Mass. graduates unexpected gift at ceremony Trump administration continues 'unraveling' Harvard as it cancels wave of grants University system of Northeast state recommends closing a third of its campuses 6 Mass. schools are under federal investigation for antisemitism. What are the claims? New Trump investigation accuses Harvard of admissions fraud Read the original article on MassLive. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
