Harvard reverses decision to suspend five pro-Palestinian protesters after appeal by Faculty Council | News

Harvard College’s Board of Regents reversed its decision to suspend five students for participating in a pro-Palestinian camp earlier this year after the Faculty Council criticized its handling of the cases.

The college informed students on Tuesday of the new disciplinary measures, which downgraded suspensions to probation of varying lengths, according to a person familiar with the decisions who was granted anonymity to discuss the disciplinary matter.

The most severe probation sentence will be imposed for only one semester, a notable change from the original punishments that forced at least one student to leave college for three semesters. Some students who were initially placed on probation in late May also had the length of their probation reduced.

The students were threatened with disciplinary action just days before Harvard University’s graduation ceremony at the end of May because the university administration had classified them as active participants in the 20-day pro-Palestinian camp that was held in Harvard Yard at the end of the spring semester.

The decision to lift the suspensions and mitigate charges against other disciplined students represents a dramatic reversal less than two months after the Ad Board, an administrative body responsible for applying and enforcing Harvard College policies, prevented 13 graduates from receiving their degrees at the commencement ceremony.

The Harvard administration faced strong backlash from students and faculty members for taking disciplinary action against the students. Several prominent professors criticized the charges as overly harsh and unprecedented. More than 1,000 people protested the decision to deny the 13 seniors their diplomas with a walkout during Harvard’s graduation ceremony.

Tensions surrounding the disciplinary proceedings revealed a rift between the Ad Board and a large group of Harvard faculty members who sought to reinstate the sanctioned seniors on the list of degrees to be awarded. The FAS revolt forced the Harvard Corporation—the university’s highest governing body—to decide whether to side with its own faculty or the Disciplinary Board.

This is not the first time Harvard has backtracked on its efforts to take disciplinary and administrative action against pro-Palestinian protesters. The college initially placed 20 members of the camp on involuntary leave before rehiring them just days later, after the occupation ended.

By dropping charges against the student activists, Harvard may have further emboldened pro-Palestinian student groups ahead of its return to campus in September.

“After sustained organizing by students and faculty, Harvard has caved, showing that the student intifada will always win,” organizers wrote in a joint Instagram post by the Palestine Solidarity Committee, Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, and the African and African American Resistance Organization.

According to a HOOP organizer, all college students who were punished for their involvement in the camp filed appeals and requests for retrial by early June.

Students have two options for challenging decisions of the Ad Board: they can file an appeal, which is heard by both the Ad Board and the Faculty Council, or they can file a petition for reinstatement, which is considered only by the Ad Board.

The Ad Board apparently initially rejected the appeals of some students, but only had to revisit the cases after the Faculty Council granted other cases.

In at least one student case, the Ad Board initially did not grant the student’s request for reconsideration, according to a letter sent to the student. But after the Faculty Council asked the board to reconsider similar cases of students who had appealed, the Ad Board granted the student’s request for reconsideration and reduced the original penalty.

“The Faculty Council has provided the Administrative Council with additional guidelines on imposing sanctions in cases involving violations similar to yours,” the letter states.

—Staff writer Michelle N. Amponsah can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @mnamponsah.

—Editor Tilly R. Robinson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @tillyrobin.