Harvard Corporation Releases Diplomas to 11 Students Who Participated in Encampment

Harvard conferred diplomas to the 11 of the 13 seniors who initially had their degrees withheld in May as they faced disciplinary action for participating in the pro-Palestine encampment in Harvard Yard, a University spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

The decision by the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, to confer the degrees comes almost two weeks after the Harvard College Administrative Board reversed its decision to suspend five students over their involvement in the encampment and downgraded the probations of several other students.

Two students who were initially barred from graduating are still blocked from receiving their diplomas due to outstanding probation sentences that are sent to conclude at the end of the fall semester.

The decision to withhold the degrees from the pro-Palestine student protesters sparked intense backlash against the Corporation, igniting a faculty rebellion and leading more than 1,000 people to stage a walkout during Harvard’s Commencement.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in a statement that consistent with its pledge in late May, “the Harvard Corporation has voted to confer degrees to 11 eligible candidates who have been restored to good standing following the completion of Faculty of Arts and Sciences processes.”

The decision to release the hold on students’ diplomas also came just days after Harvard’s top leadership announced it would standardize fact-finding procedures in disciplinary cases across the University after criticism from students and faculty over the University’s handling of the disciplinary processes regarding participation in the encampment.

“The University continues to work to strengthen and improve disciplinary processes, such as the recently announced procedures to enable the work of the University Committee on Rights and Responsibilities to enhance the consistency of investigation and factfinding processes in cases involving more than one school,” Newton wrote.

Asmer A. Safi ’24, a Rhodes Scholar whose degree was initially withheld, wrote in an Instagram post that “after relentless student and faculty pressure, Harvard conferred our undergraduate degrees today.”

At Harvard, Safi was an organizer for Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, the group that staged the 20-day encampment in the Yard. In his Instagram post, Safi also criticized Harvard’s endowment investments.

“What does it mean to be conferred a degree from a university that holds millions of investments in illegal occupation, bankrolls the annihilation of Palestinians, and mistreats its students for a political agenda?” Safi wrote. “The new title of a ‘Harvard graduate’ only gives us a deeper responsibility to speak out against the injustices that this institution is built on and stands for.”

—Staff writer Michelle N. Amponsah can be reached at michelle.amponsah@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @mnamponsah.

—Staff writer Joyce E. Kim can be reached at joyce.kim@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @joycekim324.