Harvard Undergraduate Association Indefinitely Postpones Student Referendum on Israel Divestment

A referendum on whether Harvard should divest from institutions supporting “Israel’s occupation of Palestine” was postponed indefinitely after two Harvard Undergraduate Association officers invoked an obscure procedural motion to delay the vote.

The postponement prompted a wave of backlash from undergraduate pro-Palestine activists, who claimed that the postponement represented another example of an effort to suppress pro-Palestinian speech on Harvard’s campus.

The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee successfully passed a petition three days earlier to initiate the referendum. The vote would have been the latest in a series of student government votes across Harvard’s schools calling for the University to divest from institutions with financial ties to Israel’s war on Gaza or settlements in the West Bank.

Two HUA executive officers moved to form a problem-solving team to “solve a dispute” regarding the referendums section of the HUA’s constitution and bylaws, according to an email sent by the HUA Election Commission to PSC.

“All referendums, including those received today, are postponed pending the acceptance of the Problem Solving Team’s recommendations,” the Election Commission wrote.

The decision to postpone the referendum was slammed by the PSC, who announced that they would organize a rally at 4 p.m. at the Science Center Plaza on Friday to protest the HUA “stalling a Harvard College vote on divestment from Israel’s occupation of Palestine,” per a PSC Instagram post.

“As of now, the referendum is frozen, a clear example of the weaponization of bureaucracy to repress Harvard’s student body,” the post stated. “It is unclear when and if students will have the chance to vote on this matter.”

HUA Co-President Shikoh M. Hirabayashi ’24 declined to comment for this article. The HUA Election Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

The move to create the problem-solving team also sparked internal disagreement within the HUA’s executive team, according to a text message chain obtained by The Crimson.

“The student body is aware that the HUA did this but I had no clue nor a sayso in the decision,” wrote one HUA officer.

“I do think it’s problematic that we were not notified that people were considering triggering the problem solving team before it was triggered,” another wrote.

In the text chain, the HUA’s executive team also discussed releasing a statement by 1:30 p.m. today acknowledging the move to form a problem-solving team and that referendums will be delayed pending the group’s recommendations.

The postponement — and subsequent backlash — comes at a particularly volatile time for the HUA, just days before a newly-elected set of leaders take the reins. Former HUA Co-President John S. Cooke ’25 was ousted on Thursday in a student referendum following his expulsion from the Fox Club over allegations of misconduct, the nature of which remain unclear.

The formation of a problem-solving team was triggered by the HUA receiving a second, competing petition for a referendum following the PSC’s petition, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The petition — which purported to be from a group titled “Are Harvard Students, Students Against Hate?” — appeared to parody the PSC’s petition.

It included questions such as “Should Harvard divest from the US for supporting apartheid and having a history of Jim Crow Laws?” and “Should Harvard turn Annenberg into a strip club?” as well as an antisemitic question about whether Jews should be removed from Harvard’s faculty and governing bodies, according to screenshots of the petition reviewed by The Crimson.

An email address associated with “Are Harvard Students, Students Against Hate?” — which is not an officially recognized College student group — did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on Friday afternoon.

Per the HUA’s constitution and bylaws, the HUA must randomly select five students to serve on the problem-solving team within one week of the vote to form the team. It was not immediately clear when that vote took place.

The HUA’s executive team will also hold a mandatory meeting at 3 p.m. Friday for officers to “discuss transition and other major issues surrounding the HUA,” according to the text chain.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.

—Staff writer William Y. Tan can be reached at william.tan@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @william_y_tan.