In response to the growing controversy over the Gaza conflict, Harvard University announced on Tuesday, May 28, that it will refrain from taking positions on politically charged matters that do not directly pertain to its core mission. This decision follows the acceptance of recommendations from a faculty committee urging the university to limit its public statements on current events.
A statement from Harvard highlighted the complexities and potential risks associated with issuing official messages of empathy. “Issuing official statements of empathy runs the risk of appearing to care more about some places and events than others,” the university readout noted. “Because few, if any, world events can be entirely isolated from conflicting viewpoints, such statements risk alienating some members of the community by expressing implicit solidarity with others.”
Shift in policy
This new policy means Harvard will no longer release official empathy statements, as it did for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion and for the victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. The move is part of a broader set of principles laid out by the university’s Institutional Voice Working Group, composed of eight faculty members. The administration and governing board have accepted these guidelines.
Emphasis on institutional neutrality
Noah Feldman, a Harvard law professor and co-chair of the committee, emphasized that the university should not act as a political entity. “Harvard isn’t a government,” Feldman stated in an interview with The Harvard Gazette. “It shouldn’t have a foreign policy or a domestic policy.” While the recommendations advocate for institutional neutrality, they also recognize nuances in the university’s role and communication strategies.