Updated: October 12, 2023, at 11:29 p.m.
Harvard President Claudine Gay forcefully condemned “barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Hamas” and rejected calls to punish and name students who signed onto a statement that said they hold Israel “entirely responsible” for the ongoing violence.
Gay said in a video address Thursday evening — her third statement this week — that the University “embraces a commitment to free expression” and will not seek to sanction those who have criticized Israel, even as she sought to distance the University from the student group statement.
In the address, titled “Our Choices,” Gay reiterated the University’s rejection of terrorism, hate, and harassment.
“We can fan the flames of division and hatred that are roiling the world,” Gay said. “Or we can try to be a force for something different and better.”
In the speech, Gay reiterated the University’s commitment to free expression, though she did not specifically refer to the student groups that co-signed the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee’s controversial statement on Israel.
“That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous,” she said. “We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views, but that is a far cry from endorsing them.”
The Palestine Solidarity