Larry Summers.
(Bloomberg) — Larry Summers, Harvard University’s former president, reignited his criticism of the institution by saying that the co-chair of a new task force on antisemitism is unsuited to lead it.
“I have lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish,” Summers wrote on X, after the appointment of Derek Penslar, a professor of Jewish History, to be co-chair of the new group.
Summers said that Penslar has “publicly minimized Harvard’s antisemitism problem, rejected the definition used by the US government in recent years of antisemitism as too broad, invoked the need for the concept of settler colonialism in analyzing Israel, referred to Israel as an apartheid state and more.”
Summers has been a vocal critic of Harvard and its former president, Claudine Gay, in the wake of accusations of antisemitism on campus since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked the Jewish state. This included Gay’s delay in condemning student groups that blamed Israel solely for the violence and not Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union.
Penslar, in a statement provided by Harvard, said he sees the task force as an important opportunity to determine the nature and extent of antisemitism and more subtle forms of social exclusion that affect Jewish students at Harvard.
“Only with this information in hand can Harvard implement effective policies that will improve Jewish student life on campus,” Penslar said.
The latest volley from Summers shows how Harvard and the board continue to struggle to resolve tensions even after Gay resigned. Harvard faces multiple federal investigations into antisemitism, including by two Congressional committees and the Education Department, as well as a federal lawsuit. Applications are down and many alumni are still refusing to support the university while the Harvard Corp. board, led by Penny Pritzker, remains unchanged.
Harvard’s interim president, Alan Garber, on Friday announced the formation of two new presidential task forces, one on antisemitism and the other on Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias. The task forces will attempt to shed light on rising tensions in the wake of Hamas’ attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza, in which more than 25,000 people have been killed.
A spokesperson for Harvard said Penslar is a renowned scholar of modern Jewish and Israeli history who is highly regarded as a leading authority in his field and is deeply committed to tackling antisemitism and improving the experience of Jewish students at Harvard.
“He is widely respected across the Harvard community as someone who approaches his research and teaching with open-mindedness and respect for conflicting points of view and approaching difficult issues with care and reason,” the spokesperson said.
The task force will undertake broad consultation as it seeks to identify the root causes of antisemitism on campus and recommend approaches to tackling it directly. Garber believes that the effort to combat antisemitism at Harvard will benefit from a variety of perspectives and experiences, the school said.
Avi Loeb, a professor of science and world-renowned astrophysicist, said he was disappointed by the choice of Penslar because he’s publicly minimized Harvard’s handling of antisemitism and applied an apartheid narrative to Israel.
“In order to make the future better than the past, Harvard’s leadership needs to listen to criticism,” said Loeb, who was born in Israel. “Instead, it might be operating in a survival mode, attempting to preserve past practices and the composition of Harvard’s Corporation. In that context, Professor Penslar might seem to be politically their best choice.”
Summers resigned as president of Harvard in 2006 after clashes with faculty, including remarks he made about women’s aptitude for science and engineering. The economist is also a former US Treasury secretary.
(Updates with Penslar comment in fifth paragraph, Harvard statement in ninth paragraph)
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