Slavery, Anti-Semitism and Harvard's Missing Moral Compass

A recent report, Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, notes that the universitys faculty, staff and leaders held more than 70 black slaves between 1636, when Harvard was founded, and 1783, when Massachusetts abolished slavery. In atonement, President Lawrence Bacow reports, the university intends to dedicate $100 million of its endowment to help address the persistent corrosive effects of those historical practices on individuals, on Harvard, and on our society.

A Harvard Crimson editorial speaks with even stronger moral conviction of the desire for rightful justice that spreads like wildfire when oppression strikes anywhere in the world. Moved to right past wrongs, the editors propose to help free Palestine by boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, which stands accused of pushing Palestinians toward indefinite statelessness, combining ethnonationalist legislation and a continued assault on the sovereignty of the West Bank through illegal settlements that difficults [sic] the prospect of a two-state solution.