Harvard Sees Drop in Applications Following Antisemitism Controversy

Harvard University aw a 5% drop in admission applications following its antisemitism and plagiarism controversies.

The university published data on its incoming Class of 2028 last week, announcing the acceptance of 1,937 students from an application amount of 54,008.

In December 2023, the Harvard early application pool saw a 17% decline from the year before, receiving 7,921 early applications, compared to 9,553 applications in 2022.

Harvard’s antisemitism task force leader once called Israel a “regime of apartheid.”

Derek Penslar, a Jewish history professor, was appointed to the position by President Alan Garber on January 19.

“Reports of antisemitic and Islamophobic acts on our campus have grown, and the sense of belonging among these groups has been undermined,” the announcement read at the time. “We need to understand why and how that is happening—and what more we might do to prevent it.”

“I write today to announce two presidential task forces: one devoted to combating antisemitism and one devoted to combating Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

In August, Penslar was one of almost 3,000 people signing a letter calling Israel an apartheid regime.

“There cannot be democracy for Jews in Israel as long as Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid, as Israeli legal experts have described it,” the letter says. “Indeed, the ultimate purpose of the judicial overhaul is to tighten restrictions on Gaza, deprive Palestinians of equal rights both beyond the Green Line and within it, annex more land, and ethnically cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian population.”

“American Jews have long been at the forefront of social justice causes, from racial equality to abortion rights, but have paid insufficient attention to the elephant in the room: Israel’s long-standing occupation that, we repeat, has yielded a regime of apartheid,” the letter added.

“As Israel has grown more right-wing and come under the spell of the current government’s messianic, homophobic, and misogynistic agenda, young American Jews have grown more and more alienated from it. Meanwhile, American Jewish billionaire funders help support the Israeli far right.”