Harvard Settles, Eight Affiliates React

After more than a year of debate about Harvard’s handling of campus antisemitism, the University has taken its most forceful steps to date. In settling two lawsuits alleging antisemitic discrimination, Harvard adopted a new definition of antisemitism, instituted anti-discrimination protections for Zionists, and pledged to form a partnership with an Israeli university. For the eight Harvard affiliates below — students and faculty, Zionist and anti-Zionist, Jewish and non-Jewish — these policy changes prompt new debates about free speech, student safety, and the proper role of the University in the face of geopolitical turmoil. — Max A. Palys ’26 and Saul I.M. Arnow '26, Editorial Chairs

All It Takes To Censor Speech at Harvard Is a Lawsuit

Most worryingly, with this move, Harvard has signaled that upset constituents — and outside groups backing them — can bring thinly-supported, mostly-anonymous legal complaints against the University to reshape policies at the heart of the academic mission.

Harvard’s Pro-Palestine Protesters Have to Stop Weakening Their Cause

I believe Israel is committing atrocious war crimes in Gaza, but the pro-Palestine coalition has managed to make itself so incredibly difficult to support.

Speech Distinctions

Dissent: With Pass-Fail Policy, the FAS Would Make Grades Even More Meaningless

Grade inflation and compression, worse with every passing year, pose a serious threat to the health of Harvard. The last thing the FAS should do now is give students another out.

Dissent: Abolish Advanced Placement

Sure, the Advanced Placement program provides a standard. But a bad standard is worse than none at all. We should abolish it.

Dissent: Departmental Restructuring Won’t Save — or Kill — the Humanities

Convinced that the longevity of Harvard humanities must take precedence over the longevity of its present departmental form, we hope the FAS does not allow questions of structure to elide more fundamental questions of substance.

Dissent: Equitable Admissions Are Proportionate

Instead of absolving selective colleges of their obligation to admit comparable numbers of men and women, we wish that the Editorial Board had consistently applied its reparative admissions rationale to men.

Harvard Isn’t Fun Enough. That’s No Laughing Matter.

Fun is no laughing matter. It is an institutional imperative for students to be happy and socially connected. A mental health crisis fueled by record loneliness is what happens when we act like fun is not an essential, soul-nourishing part of the human experience.  So why do our fetes falter? I see two things dimming the Friday night lights.

Admissions Can’t Be a Dirty Word

The thing that unsettles me most about today’s affirmative action decision is that admissions remains a dirty word on Harvard’s campus. There exists a politics of politeness that proscribes honest discussion about Harvard College’s admissions practices. This reluctance has long held back reform; now, it could restrain the student response to the fall of affirmative action too.