Harvard pauses collaboration with Palestinian university amid Trump actions on higher ed
Harvard’s School of Public Health did not automatically renew a collaboration agreement with Birzeit University in the West Bank, which has fueled concern for its ties to Palestinian terrorism
Scott Eisen/Getty Images
An entrance gate on Harvard Yard at the Harvard University campus on June 29, 2023 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Harvard’s School of Public Health announced on Wednesday that it had suspended a formal collaboration with Birzeit University, a Palestinian university in the West Bank that has faced scrutiny for its ties to Palestinian terror groups.
A May 2024 report from the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance raised concerns about the public health school’s relationship with Birzeit, saying the partnership magnifies “false narratives and hate.” A group of 28 House Republicans called for Harvard to cut ties with Birzeit last summer.
“While we were disappointed that it took this long for Harvard to suspend relations with a university that, among other misdeeds, blatantly discriminates against Israeli Jews by barring them from campus, elects would-be terrorists to student government and hosts Hamas and PFLP parades on campus, we are gratified that they have finally done it and hope that their review of the relationship will lead them to recognize a permanent termination,” HJAA’s president, Eric Fleiss, told Jewish Insider.
After the recent expiration of a memorandum of understanding between Harvard and Birzeit, Harvard made the choice to not automatically renew it, as the university institutes a regular review of its Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights.
“With the MOU halted, the formal institution-to-institution collaboration between Harvard Chan School [of Public Health] and the Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University is on pause, though individual scholars can and do continue to collaborate,” a Harvard spokesperson said on Thursday.
A decision has not yet been made whether the pause will become permanent, according to the spokesperson. The FXB Center’s Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights will continue to exist, even as the Birzeit relationship is examined.
The move comes as President Donald Trump has taken aim at universities’ handling of antisemitism and as Columbia University has agreed to adopt greater oversight of its Middle Eastern studies department after the Trump administration raised concerns of anti-Israel bias in its courses and among its faculty. Some universities, fearing repercussions from the Trump administration, have begun to make changes and concessions in anticipation of greater federal scrutiny.