Harvard Cancels Event Featuring Democratic Congressman After He Slams Claudine Gay Over House Testimony

After a Massachusetts Democrat congressman — who is also a Harvard University alumnus — slammed Harvard President Claudine Gay for claiming she supported free speech to bolster her inaction against calls for the genocide of Jews, Harvard canceled an event at which the lawmaker was to speak.

On December 8, Harvard’s conservative John Adams Society was supposed to hold a discussion on the future of U.S.–China relations, featuring Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). The event was co-sponsored by the journal American Affairs.

One month prior, on November 6, David Vega of the John Adams Society, booked a room; he received an email from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences that confirmed the event and the room in which it was to be held, as Sohrab Amari — who reviewed the email — wrote in The American Conservative.

Auchincloss’s chief of staff communicated with Christine Haverty, director of events management, who reportedly replied, “Thank you! For this, you would work with the team planning the event and Harvard University Police,” adding, “They are wonderful!”

“On Nov. 27, Haverty introduced the congressional team to Sgt. Andy Gilbert of Harvard Police to coordinate security,” Ahmari noted. “A few days later, Harvard Police informed the organizers and the congressional team, ‘We’d like to let you know that [Harvard Police] is still in the planning stages for this event, and we will be coordinating a planning meeting in the coming days.’”

On December 5, Harvard confirmed the event, Ahmari pointed out. That same day Gay gave her testimony. Gay started her testimony by saying, “I have sought to confront hate while preserving free expression…. The free exchange of ideas is the foundation upon which Harvard is built.” Later, when Rep. Elise Stefanik asked Gay if “calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard’s code of conduct,” Gay responded, “It depends on the context.”

On December 6, Auchincloss and fellow Massachusetts Democrat Congressman Seth Moulton, also a Harvard alumnus, released a statement which read, “Harvard ranks last out of 248 universities for support of free speech. But when it comes to denouncing antisemitism, suddenly the university has anxieties about the First Amendment. It rings hollow.”

On December 7, Ahmari stated, the student organizer for the event reportedly received an email from the associate director for student organizations that claimed the event was canceled because American Affairs was a non-Harvard entity.

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“A Harvard spokesman claimed that the university has ‘no record of an event registration request,’ notwithstanding the registration confirmation reviewed by The American Conservative and dozens of back-and-forth emails between organizers and Harvard staff, all predicated upon the fact that the event is registered and moving forward,” Ahmari concluded.