Education
More students were placed on probation since at least the 2017-2018 academic year, as they were disciplined for participating in pro-Palestine protests.
Disciplinary cases tripled at Harvard University during the 2023-2024 academic year amid a wave of pro-Palestine protests, according to the school’s student newspaper.
More than half of the 90 students who were disciplined throughout the year were accused of violating the university’s protest policies or participating in unsanctioned protests, The Harvard Crimson reported.
As college protests spread across the country after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, the university tightened its protest rules in early 2024, leading to more stringent action against students who protested that spring.
Nearly all of the 58 students placed on probation — the highest number since at least the 2017-2018 academic year — were disciplined for participating in a November 2023 pro-Palestine occupation of University Hall and an April to May 2024 pro-Palestine encampment at Harvard Yard, according to the Crimson. An additional 31 students were “formally admonished” but not placed on probation.
Students on probation are monitored by the university’s Administrative Board and can be asked to withdraw if they commit additional violations, according to the university’s student handbook. The students placed on probation were charged with misusing campus spaces and disrupting normal campus activity, the Crimson reported.
The Administrative Board initially suspended five students for their involvement in the Harvard Yard encampment but later downgraded the suspensions to probationary periods, according to the Crimson. A committee of faculty and administrators also reviewed the board’s practices after students and faculty criticized the disciplinary actions taken against the students as “out of sync with past board precedent.”
Tensions surrounding these disciplinary actions have subsided somewhat due to a decrease in high-profile protests from campus pro-Palestine groups, the Crimson reported. The university has instead become embroiled in a battle for academic freedom against the Trump administration, which ordered cuts of billions of dollars in funding.
Numerous protests have been organized to support the university in its fights for international enrollment and federal funding, and none have triggered disciplinary action, according to the Crimson. Last week, a federal judge ordered the reversal of the Trump administration’s funding cuts, ruling that they amounted to illegal retaliation against the university’s rejection of White House demands.
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