Pro-Palestinian students have threatened to disrupt graduation ceremonies at Harvard University after the school handed out sanctions including suspensions to at least 35 students.
This included seniors who were slated to graduate from the Ivy League university this week.
The threat was outlined in posts on various social media outlets by the Harvxrd Palestine Solidarity Committee (deliberately spelled with an “x” instead of an “a”) and Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP).
The threat to disrupt the graduation over sanctions that were issued on May 17 comes only days after pro-Palestinian protesters ended their three-week encampment at the university.
The group said they decamped after what they say they perceived as a promise by Harvard University President Alan Garber of either leniency or dismissal of charges against the student protesters.
“If Harvard won’t live up to their promises, we see no reason to live up to ours.”
Neither Mr. Garber nor the college’s Public Affairs and Communications office responded to inquiries from The Epoch Times about the newly imposed sanctions or the university’s planned response to the threats.
According to the pro-Palestinian groups, as part of the sanctions, at least a dozen students will be prevented from participating in commencement ceremonies, and at least another 20 will be forced to withdraw from the college.
In response to the sanctions, the groups quickly organized an “emergency rally” outside Harvard’s iconic black iron main gate and posted video footage on their Instagram page.
At the rally, protesters said there would be “disruptions” of the May 23 graduation ceremonies.
“If Harvard wanted a peaceful Commencement, they should not have threatened us and our most vulnerable student organizers,” one of the protesters, who is identified by the group Canary Mission as Harvard Law School student Lea Kayali, said.
The group describes her as an organizer of an anti-Israel Harvard group on campus. Ms. Kayali did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times.
Other threats to disrupt graduation ceremonies also came from HOOP.
In an Instagram post, it stated, “Commencement will not proceed as normal while Harvard penalizes the students that speak against genocide.”
“I will ask that the Schools promptly initiate applicable reinstatement proceedings for all individuals who have been placed on involuntary leaves of absence,” he said.
“I will also ask disciplinary boards within each School to evaluate expeditiously, according to their existing practices and precedents, the cases of those who participated in the encampment.”
The pro-Palestinian groups contend that Harvard’s precedent has been “dropping charges and refraining from imposing severe consequences.”
“This was the outcome for student organizers in the South Africa Apartheid encampment, Living Wage occupation of Mass Hall, Fossil Fuel divestment blockades, and Belinda Hall occupation,” they stated.
On May 20, several pro-Palestinian student organizations posted letters on social media condemning the punishment against the students as the “Palestine exception to free speech.”
The Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association, which had previously pledged support for the protests, noted that at least 11 of the students who face either probation or withdrawal are Asian and accused the college of “unjust silence” of students advocating “Palestinian human rights.”
Before the student encampments, anti-Semitism had already escalated at Harvard and on other campuses throughout the nation following the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Israeli civilians by the Hamas terrorist group.
The college came under congressional investigation after it was accused of condoning anti-Semitism on campus—a charge that prompted Harvard President Claudine Gay to resign.
Pro-Palestinian student groups have charged that Israel provoked the attacks by occupying what the students have called stolen land from the Palestinians. They accuse Israel of responding with a genocide of innocent Palestinians, a charge the Israeli government denies as its military is trying to wipe out Hamas.
At Harvard and other campuses, students have demanded that their colleges divest any investments in companies tied to Israel.
“We are especially troubled by increasing reports that some within, and some supporting, the encampment have intimidated and harassed other members of our community,” he said.
“When Harvard staff have requested to see IDs in order to enforce our policies, supporters of the encampment have at times yelled at them, tried to encircle them, and otherwise interfered with their work.”
Mr. Garber also said in the May 6 letter that the college had received reports from passersby of being “confronted, surveilled, and followed” by pro-Palestinian student protesters.
The encampments led to the temporary shutdown of Harvard’s daily public tours. For at least a week, tourists could be seen peering through locked gates to catch a glimpse of Harvard Yard.
