(The Center Square) – Former Harvard President Larry Summers railed against the university over its decision to place an Israel critic on an antisemitism task force.
Interim Harvard President Alan Gerber announced the formation of the antisemitism task force in a letter to the university community on Jan. 19. Gerber tapped History professor Derek Penslar as a co-chair for the initiative. The same day, conservative writer Ira Stoll chronicled a series of incidents in which Penslar condemned the Jewish state, including accusing it of enacting “apartheid” against Palestinians.
Summers skewered the university on Twitter, lamenting its struggles to combat supposed antisemitism on campus.
“I have lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish,” Summers tweeted.
Summers revealed that an original antisemitism task force organized by Harvard dissolved under mysterious circumstances and that the “most respected member,” Rabbi David Wolpe, walked out on the project.