Harvard College Dean Khurana Accused of Misrepresenting Professor’s Actions in Congress Report

The aftermath of House Republicans’ report on antisemitism at Harvard played out dramatically on the floor of the Faculty Room on Tuesday as a professor accused College Dean Rakesh Khurana of falsely characterizing History professor Walter Johnson’s role in the pro-Palestine encampment.

Classics professor Richard F. Thomas stepped up to the podium during a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to demand answers from Khurana, who painted Johnson as a key instigator of the encampment in a series of texts sent to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 on May 6.

The texts, which were published in a 325-page report released by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce last week, alleged that Johnson led student activists in pro-Palestine chants and told them he “deplore[d] caving in” as tensions rose with administrators.

But Thomas said the texts “both misrepresented the words of our colleague and attributed to him words he did not say and actions he did not take.”

Thomas also accused Khurana and Garber of recklessly naming faculty members in private communications they knew could be subject to congressional discovery — and released to the public.

Thomas then asked Khurana and Marc L. Goodheart ’81, chief administrative officer of Harvard’s governing boards, whether Harvard planned to issue a statement disavowing the texts and “correcting the record” of Johnson’s actions. Thomas separately asked Khurana whether he and Garber had named other professors in his texts.

Before Khurana could answer, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra stepped in, saying Thomas’s queries were complex and best saved for a private meeting.

Thomas, still at the mic and visibly angered, rebuffed Hoekstra’s intervention and asserted that his questions had simple answers.

Khurana stepped up to the podium and delivered a short statement asking faculty to “withhold judgment until we’ve met in person.”

“I don’t discuss private communications in public,” he said.

Khurana added that he had already received a letter from a faculty member about the matter, which expressed outrage that administrators did not better protect colleagues from being named in the report. Khurana indicated that he intends to respond to the letter.

After Thomas criticized Khurana’s response as a non-answer, Hoekstra added that Harvard had a limited ability to redact information, including names, from documents subject to the subpoena and referred him to the Office of General Counsel.

Spokespeople for the College and the FAS did not respond to a request for comment. Johnson also declined to comment.

Thomas closed his statement with a final plea to administrators: “Whatever our views of the issues that gave rise to our student and faculty protests, our colleague, and this entire faculty, deserve that correction.”

Correction: November 7, 2024

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that College Dean Rakesh Khurana received a letter from multiple faculty members. In fact, the letter was signed by only one faculty member.

—Staff writer Tilly R. Robinson can be reached at tilly.robinson@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @tillyrobin.

—Staff writer Neil H. Shah can be reached at neil.shah@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @neilhshah15.