Survey Says Harvard College Freshmen Split on Pro-Palestine Campus Activism

The Class of 2028 entered Harvard Yard at the height of pro-Palestine activism on college campuses, but freshmen were split in their views of activists’ efforts, according to The Crimson’s annual freshman survey.

Around 38 percent of freshmen said they viewed pro-Palestine campus activism favorably, 24 percent said they viewed it unfavorably, and 19 percent said they had no opinion. Another 19 percent said they did not have enough information to answer.

Pro-Palestine student activism surged on college campuses last year following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Harvard and other Ivy League schools garnered intense national media attention as student protesters clashed with administrators over their pro-Palestine activism.

In April and May, students at several campuses — including Harvard and peer institutions like Columbia, Yale, and Brown — mounted encampments to protest Israel’s war in Gaza and demand university endowments divest from Israeli companies.

The second segment of The Crimson’s 2024 freshman survey explores the Class of 2028’s opinions on national and campus political issues.

Roughly 33 percent of students in the Class of 2028 completed The Crimson’s freshman survey, which included questions about their backgrounds, beliefs, political views, social media use, and the application process. The survey was open from Aug. 22 to Sept. 13.

In analyzing survey results, The Crimson did not account for potential selection bias. Some statistics may not sum to 100 percent, due to rounding.

Campus Politics

Views on pro-Palestine campus activism were split along political preferences, with 87.7 percent of students in support of pro-Palestine campus activism self-identifying as progressive or very progressive, and less than 1 percent self-identifying as conservative or very conservative.

Support among freshmen for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement — which advocates for economic sanctions against Israel — was split along the lines of freshman support for pro-Palestine activism.

Roughly 39 percent of freshmen said they viewed the BDS movement favorably, 19 percent said they viewed it unfavorably, 16 percent said they had no opinion, and 26 percent said they did not have enough information to answer.

As Harvard faces ongoing pressure from Congress and donor backlash as a result of administrators’ response to pro-Palestine student activism, freshmen were mostly skeptical or unsure about the external pressures facing University leadership.

Roughly 41 percent said they believed donors and politicians exert too much influence over Harvard’s leadership, while 45 percent said they were unsure, and 14 percent said they did not believe donors and politicians had too much influence over Harvard.

Despite the controversies facing Harvard, most freshmen said they were not concerned about the University’s public reputation. More than 60 percent said they were not worried that potential employers would view the value of their Harvard degree less favorably.

However, 22 percent of respondents expressed concern that employers may view their degree less favorably, while 18 percent said that they were unsure.

National Politics

Harvard freshmen who responded to the survey, which was open prior to the 2024 presidential election, overwhelmingly expressed support for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Around 83 percent of students reported having an unfavorable view of Donald Trump — the greatest consensus from respondents regarding Trump, Harris, and President Joe Biden. Just 4 percent of respondents expressed a favorable view of Trump.

The survey, which was conducted after Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, found that freshmen viewed Harris more favorably than Biden.

Around 60 percent of freshmen said they viewed Harris favorably compared to the 16 percent who said they viewed her unfavorably. But when it came to Biden, just 39 percent said they viewed the president favorably while 34 percent reported an unfavorable view of him.

The overwhelmingly progressive skew of the freshmen class was reflected in students’ reactions to the outcome of the presidential election in November. Many students expressed disappointment and concern after Trump won election to a second term in the White House, and professors and House tutors offered spaces on campus for students to process the results.

Roughly 61 percent of respondents identified themselves as progressive or very progressive, and 9 percent said they were conservative or very conservative — an ideological trend consistent with past classes.

A little over half of incoming students, 55 percent, said they consider themselves affiliated with the Democratic Party, while 6 percent said they were affiliated with the Republican Party, and 26 percent said they were not affiliated with any political party. Of the remaining students, 12 percent said they were independent and 1 percent identified as members of the Libertarian Party.

Campus Free Speech

The College launched its Intellectual Vitality initiative — an effort to promote the free exchange of ideas — earlier this year, amid campus divisions over the war in Gaza and concerns among students, faculty, and administrators about its potentially chilling effect on campus free speech.

As the initiative found footing in student programming and academic curricula this semester, the Class of 2028 was the first class to be introduced to intellectual vitality from the get-go through orientation events and communications from the administration.

The Class of 2028 completed a pre-orientation “perspectives” module about having difficult conversations, as a part of the College’s efforts to promote campus free expression — a newly implemented change echoed in their views on these efforts.

The vast majority of freshmen respondents, 89.8 percent, expressed support for efforts to promote academic freedom and free inquiry on campus, a slight increase from the Class of 2027’s 82.8 percent

Still, 28 percent of respondents said they were very concerned or concerned about the freedom to express their views on campus — an increase from the 19 percent that reported free speech concerns in The Crimson’s Class of 2027 survey.

—Staff writer Joyce E. Kim can be reached at joyce.kim@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @joycekim324.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.