Students Suspended from Harvard Divinity School Library After Pray-In

Harvard Divinity School students were issued two-week suspensions from its library for participating in a pro-Palestine “pray-in” demonstration last Monday.

The demonstration, primarily led by Jewish students, was the first action at the Divinity School this semester, but the suspensions followed in line with the University’s response to similar protests in libraries across campus. Students and faculty received two-week bans from Widener Library and the Harvard Law School library after “study-in” protests last month. The University has yet to take action after a second faculty “study-in” last Friday.

Unlike previous “study-ins,” the demonstration was centered around prayer, but administrators still characterized the action as a protest, a violation of the University-wide guidelines that intend to prevent students from feeling unsafe or distracted in spaces like libraries and classrooms.

Divinity School Dean Marla F. Frederick announced the suspensions in an email sent Monday morning. In the email, Frederick acknowledged the “importance of prayer.”

“At HDS we honor the importance of prayer and what it represents for so many. And, as one colleague reminded us recently, ‘prayer is protest,’” Frederick wrote. “In and of itself, advocacy for the cause of people under duress — whether in Israel, Gaza, or other parts of the world — is noble,” she added.

But, she explained the pray-in was in violation of the University’s rules against protests in libraries, which led to the suspensions.

“They are the rules we currently have and as such we must uphold them,” Frederick wrote.

Stephanie L. Tabashneck, a HDS student and one of the organizers behind the “pray-in”, called the dean’s reaction “inconceivable.”

“There’s a serious tension there between the ideals that HDS purports to uphold and the consequences that they impose on students who are living out these very ideals,” she said.

“Harvard doesn’t support free speech,” Tabashneck said. “And I say this as someone who is Jewish and both concerned about antisemitism and concerned about the genocide of the Palestinian people,” she added.

A University spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During the 45-minute demonstration, the graduate students prayed over religious texts including the Quran, Torah, and Bible, and passed out pamphlets that criticized the University and Jewish leaders at Chabad and Hillel. Security guards photographed the participants’ IDs, which have been used in previous demonstrations to issue library suspensions.

“Students from the Divinity School were peacefully gathering in the library and praying, and the idea that praying would be cause for sanction is inconsistent with democracy and inconsistent with the values of the Divinity School,” Tabashneck said.

—Staff writer Rachael A. Dziaba can be reached at rachael.dziaba@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @rachaeldziaba.

—Staff writer Aisatu J. Nakoulima can be reached at aisatu.nakoulima@thecrimson.com.