Harvard University nixed a webpage that boasted a number of “affinity celebrations” for graduates of a variety of identities.
Journalist Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, reported the delegation on Thursday at a time when Harvard and other universities face intense scrutiny over acts of anti-Semitism reported on campuses around the country as Israel wages war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“Harvard provided racially segregated ‘affinity group’ celebrations at its commencement event earlier this year,” Rufo said in a post to X, along with screenshots, adding later, “The university has now deleted this page from its website.”
EXCLUSIVE: Harvard provided racially segregated "affinity group" celebrations at its commencement event earlier this year. Whites and Jews were the only groups not provided with celebrations.
The university has now deleted this page from its website. pic.twitter.com/ZFLF2exvhL
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) December 14, 2023
Items that made up the list for May included “affinity celebrations” for “LGBTQ+ Graduates,” “Arab Graduates,” “Indigenous Graduates,” “Graduates with Disabilities,” “Latinx Graduates,” “Black Graduates,” and “Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Desi-American Graduates.”
As reported by Campus Reform, the URL for the deleted page now redirects to a “Diversity and Inclusion” page on the Harvard website, but an archived version shows what it looked like before the change. It’s unclear when the page was removed, but the outlet noted that it appears to have been an “evergreen” page for “affinity” events in each graduation cycle.
The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine shows the page was visible at least as far back as 2022, and a “Frequently Asked Questions” section indicated that the celebrations have been going on for several years.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
Although Rufo claimed in his X post that “Whites and Jews were the only groups not provided with celebrations,” Harvard University describes “affinity celebrations” as “student-led, staff-supported events that recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of graduates from marginalized and underrepresented communities.”
The Daily Wire reached out to Harvard seeking comment on the deleted webpage.
Harvard University’s president, Claudine Gay, faced blowback after she said during a recent congressional hearing that “context” dictated whether calling for the genocide of Jews on campuses violated her school’s policies on bullying and harassment.
But Harvard has stuck behind its president, and Gay released a statement, posted to X by the university, that said: “There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students. Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”