Two damning internal reports have forced Harvard University to confront a deeply fractured campus climate, culminating in a sweeping apology from its president and a flurry of promises to clean up a mess years in the making.

“The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful,” admitted Harvard President Alan Garber. “I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community.”

But those “moments” weren’t fleeting — they were systemic, prolonged, and, according to the reports, deeply embedded in the culture of what was once America’s most prestigious university.

An internal review on antisemitism paint a disturbing picture of a campus where fear, intimidation, and ideological silencing have become the norm. Jewish students reported feeling unsafe, unwelcome, and afraid to speak their minds. So much for Harvard’s supposed commitment to “free inquiry.”

The university also quietly renamed its embattled Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office to the more benign-sounding Office of Community and Campus Life.

Garber attempted to calm the storm with lofty promises: a review of admissions, hiring, curriculum, and orientation practices; tweaks to disciplinary procedures; and annual reports on discrimination complaints. But there is a more pressing question: Why did it take years of rot, a $2 billion funding loss, and national outrage to act? Only when the dollars dried up did Harvard find its conscience.

The antisemitism report reveals that hostility toward Jewish and Israeli students didn’t begin with the Hamas attacks in 2023 — it goes back more than a decade.

Garber closed his message with a utopian wish: “May our successors… find Harvard to be a place where they can be themselves, express their views freely, and encounter sympathy and understanding.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)