It is heartbreaking to read of the dean of the Kennedy School reversing course to admit the head of Human Rights Watch as a fellow. In praising Dean Douglas Elmendorf’s earlier refusal, we called the dean a hero. So it was sad to read that he caved, labeling his earlier stance “an error” that “inadvertently cast doubt on the mission of the School and our commitment to open debate.” It reads like a forced confession that would have made Stalin proud.    

Let us look at the context of this retreat. Harvard has been ranked the most antisemitic campus in the country, and its percentage of Jewish students has tumbled  in recent decades to a fifth of what it used to be. It makes President Lawrence Lowell’s era of anti-Jewish quotas look like the good old days. Its student newspaper has endorsed Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions and thrown in its lot with the Palestinian cause. Israeli speakers are harassed on campus.