Harvard Students Denied Degrees Over Palestine Protest

 

In a decision that has sparked widespread outrage, Harvard University announced that it would delay awarding diplomas for one year to 13 students who participated in a three-week protest camp in support of Palestine.Harvard University announced that it would delay awarding diplomas for one year to 13 students who participated in a three-week protest camp in support of Palestine. The protests took place last month, and the decision was made by the Harvard Corporation, the university's top governing body.

Among the affected students is Asmer Assar Safi from Pakistan. Safi was supposed to receive his degree in social studies and ethnicity, migration, and rights at Harvard College. Despite completing all the requirements, he has not received his degree. This decision has disrupted the future plans of many students, including Safi, who is a Rhodes Scholar. He is now trying to determine if he can still attend the University of Oxford, given that his Harvard degree has been withheld for a year.

Another impacted student is Shraddha Joshi from Texas, who was planning to pursue a master’s degree in the study of society in the United Kingdom. Her plans are now uncertain due to the withholding of her degree.

Harvard's decision comes amid a heated national debate over academic freedom and the right to protest, particularly in the context of the ongoing war in Gaza. Students across the United States have been protesting and urging their universities to divest from companies linked to or doing business with Israel. At Harvard, the protest encampment began on April 24, with students demanding transparency about the university’s investments in companies connected to Israel and calling for divestment from those companies. The encampment ended on May 14 after negotiations, with the university agreeing to begin reinstating students who had been placed on “involuntary leave” and to offer a meeting with governing boards regarding divestment.

However, the protesters claim that Harvard did not fulfill its promises. Instead of reinstating the students, the university continued to discipline them in unprecedented ways. Shraddha Joshi, who served as a liaison for the protesters and was not a camper herself, was placed on “involuntary leave” and told to leave the campus. Despite the university’s promise to reinstate the affected students, Joshi was informed that she would remain on probation until May 2025, with her degree withheld until then.

The protesters argue that the solidarity encampment was not an isolated event but part of a broader campaign of events, vigils, and awareness efforts on campus even before the war in Gaza escalated. They report facing significant harassment and pressure from counter-protesters, with their identities being shared on social media accounts opposed to their cause.

Drawing parallels to past protest movements at Harvard, including the divestment from apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, the protesters contend that their actions were in line with Harvard’s tradition of activism. They criticize the university’s reluctance to engage in meaningful dialogue on the issue, which they say led to the establishment of the encampment. Since then, they have observed a worsening of repression from the university.

The decision by Harvard to withhold degrees has ignited discussions about the balance between academic freedom, the right to protest, and institutional responses to student activism. The affected students and their supporters continue to call for transparency and change, hoping to see the university honor its commitments and engage constructively with the concerns raised by the protests.