According to a commentary published by The Boston Globe, unnamed professors at Harvard University think that donor criticism for the school’s handling of campus antisemitism since Oct. 7 may have influenced the decisions to hire Jewish leaders this year.
Shirley Leung, a business columnist, associate editor and podcast host, wrote an article on Monday titled “ ‘Where DEI went to die’: With Claudine Gay gone, Harvard leadership is so white,” counts four Jews the school has hired into leadership positions since January.
“Some faculty have suggested that the elevation of Jewish leaders is a way to appease vocal donors and alumni—many who have been upset and stopped writing checks over what they consider the administration’s tepid response to campus antisemitism,” Leung wrote.
While acknowledging such pressure as a possibility in hiring decisions, she said “Jewish leadership is not uncommon at Harvard’s highest levels. The school’s top three administrators (president, provost, executive vice president) are currently Jewish—a similar structure when Larry Bacow, who preceded Gay, was president.”
The article prompted a response from the Anti-Defamation League.
“The suggestion that Harvard has made leadership decisions based on religion and as a means of appeasing Jewish donors is deeply offensive as it invokes some of the oldest and most sinister tropes about Jewish money and control,” the ADL’s New England branch stated on social media. “Counting the number of Jewish leaders at Harvard or any university is misguided and insulting.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the ADL, followed up, writing that “this is really unbelievable: to think that someone is suggesting the number of Jewish administrators at Harvard is too high is sickening. The days of quotas at Ivy League universities ended in the last century—let’s not revive them in 2024.”
