Harvard’s Antisemitism Task Force Head Skips Out on Antisemitism Panel to Avoid Questions About Harvard

Harvard’s Antisemitism Task Force Head Skips Out on Antisemitism Panel to Avoid Questions About Harvard

‘…it would not be appropriate for me to make public comments at this time,’ David Penslar said in a written statement

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Perry Chiaramonte

Derek Penslar, bowed out of a anti-Semitism panel on Sunday to avoid questions about Harvard. Courtesy of University of Washington

The head of the anti-Semitism task force at Harvard dropped out of a panel on defining antisemitism Sunday, saying he did not want to publicly answer questions related to the “goings-on” at the Ivy League school.

Derek Penslar, who co-chairs the university’s Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism was due to participate in the What is Antisemitism? Definitions and Debates panel being held at the Center for Jewish History in New York City, but attendees learned at its start that he had canceled at the last minute.

Moderator Gavriel Rosenfeld read a statement from the Harvard professor when he announced his absence, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

“I am mindful of my role as co-chair of the Harvard Task Force on Combating Anti-Semitism,” Penslar said in his statement that was read aloud to the audience by the Fairfield University history professor, “and since at the symposium I would invariably be asked to speak about the goings on at Harvard, and since the task force is only now just being put together, and its plan of action is being formed, it would not be appropriate for me to make public comments at this time.”

Penslar’s selection to head up the task force has gained widespread criticism, including from alumni of the prestigious school. Last week he was called “unsuited” for the role by Former Harvard president Larry Summers.

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“I do feel I should acknowledge … how problematic it is and the chilling effect that occurs when somebody’s arguments and words are suddenly used against them and often twisted and used for a certain agenda,” Glenn Dynner, also of Fairfield University said during the event, according to the Free Beacon.

“I think all of us feel a little bit now worried that our words, too, are going to be twisted,” he added.