The co-chair of a task force created by Harvard to combat anti-Semitism resigned Sunday, a move the university took to address complaints that Jewish students have felt increasingly uncomfortable on campus since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. This is his second high-profile resignation. .
Co-chair Raffaella Sadun, a professor of business administration, did not give a reason for her resignation, but a colleague said she seemed frustrated by how long it would take to make progress on the issue.
“Basically, her conclusion was that she didn’t feel confident or satisfied that she could lead and influence the process in a way that was meaningful to her,” said Rabbi Hirsch Zage of the Jewish campus organization Chabad of Harvard. Hirschy Zarchi said. He said he had spoken to several people familiar with Dr. Sutton’s thinking.
Nationally known rabbi David Wolpe resigned in early December after former Harvard President Claudine Gay was widely criticized for testifying before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus. Advisory Committee Positions. “Both of these events on campus, along with the painfully inadequate testimony, reinforced the idea that I was unable to effect the kind of change I hoped for,” he wrote on X at the time.
Then, in January, current working group co-chair Derek Penslar was revealed to have signed a letter calling Israel an “apartheid regime,” sparking protests from many pro-Israel students and alumni who questioned him whether it is in their interests or not.
Dr. Sutton did not respond to emails or phone messages asking about her departure. But the upheaval illustrates how volatile the atmosphere at Harvard has been since Hamas attacked Israel. The attack, and Harvard’s often ham-fisted response to it, has heightened longstanding anxieties among Jewish students and alumni who fear they no longer feel fully at home at the Ivy League school.
Some Jewish students say they have given up their kipas, or skullcaps, in favor of baseball caps. Now, they say, they keep their Zionist beliefs in classrooms and dormitories.
Last week, a pro-Palestinian student group circulated a cartoon on Instagram that showed a hand with a Star of David and a dollar sign with nooses around the necks of a black man and an Arab man .
After complaints about the cartoon, student groups and faculty groups associated with them apologized for the images.
Dr. Sutton’s resignation is the latest in a series of setbacks in Harvard’s efforts to address anti-Semitism on campus.
Last year, Dr Gay established an advisory committee to tackle anti-Semitism. On December 5, she testified before a congressional committee and gave a legal answer when asked whether Harvard would punish students who called for the genocide of Jews.
Two days later, Rabbi Wolpe resigned, and on January 2, Dr. Gay resigned under pressure. Later that month, Alan M. Garber, who took over as interim president of Harvard University, established two new working groups, one on anti-Semitism and another on anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias.
He appointed Dr Sutton and Dr Penslar as co-chairs of the anti-Semitism working group. Dr. Sadun is seen as a counterweight to Dr. Penslar, a Jewish history professor who faces protests.
“She should be a reassuring voice and leader on the task force,” Rabizzi said.
Dr. Pensla, who still leads the task force, did not help the problem by minimizing the extent of anti-Semitism at Harvard in an interview shortly after his appointment. In an interview with The Boston Globe, he questioned how serious the problem of anti-Semitism is on campus.
“It’s not a myth, but it’s been exaggerated,” Dr. Pensla said.
Even before Oct. 7, he said, some Jewish students were “shunned” by “progressive political groups” because of their attachment to Israel. “Is this virulent anti-Semitism? No,” he told the Globe. “But it’s a form of social exclusion and social pressure.”
But his supporters point out that he also told the Globe that Israel is “a country with every right to exist.”
Despite accepting Dr. Sutton’s resignation on Sunday, the university announced the members of two task forces and appointed law professor Jared Elias to succeed Dr. Sutton.
“Over the past five months, members of our community have been impacted by grief, anger, and fear as divisions persisted on our campus,” Dr. Garber, the university’s interim president, said in a statement. “We must do more to bridge our divides.”
Alain de la Querrier Contributed research.