The HLS Student Gov. Wants a Referendum Against Library Bans. One by One, Planned Votes Have Fallen Through.

A referendum denouncing Harvard Law School’s penalties for pro-Palestine study-in participants has been delayed more than a month after three proposed voting dates fell through amid a dispute between Dean of Students Stephen L. Ball and the HLS Student Government.

After administrators told the student government that a planned Monday vote would not take place, no new date has been set.

The referendum, which the student government originally wanted to hold in November, was first delayed to Dec. 4, then Jan. 6. It was pushed again to Jan. 13, but student government leaders learned with only days’ notice that no vote would be held Monday.

Law School spokesperson Jeff Neal declined to comment for this article.

During the fall semester, students were temporarily banned from the Law School library in Langdell Hall after staging three “study-in” protests. In response, student government leaders drafted the referendum, which condemns the suspensions and calls to expunge them from students’ disciplinary records.

The referendum also demands “an end to Harvard’s use of intimidation tactics” and “restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, and access to campus resources.”

A start date was initially set for the fall semester after the student government passed a resolution on Nov. 16 calling for a vote to be held within 10 business days. The students then waited for the Dean of Students Office to approve language in an email announcing the referendum.

But the 10-day deadline passed without Ball offering his approval, and student government leaders sent an unauthorized email to the student body stating that voting would open Dec. 4.

HLS administrators responded by deactivating the student government’s email address. In an email to students, Ball criticized the unauthorized announcement and wrote that the DSO would work with the student government to hold the referendum after winter break.

After this delay, more than 280 HLS students signed a petition claiming that Ball’s refusal to hold the vote was “another unprecedented and unacceptable display of repression.”

At the time, an administrator told The Crimson the referendum was planned for Jan. 6. But HLS student government co-president John M. Fossum wrote in a Jan. 4 statement that the DSO had not consulted with the student government before announcing that date.

Instead, Fossum wrote, the two parties agreed to hold the vote on Jan. 13. In early January, shortly after the agreement, HLS restored the student government’s access to their email address.

But within a week, the deal fell apart. On Jan. 10, HLS administrators notified the student government that they would no longer hold the referendum on Jan. 13, according to Fossum.

“We are in discussion with them on the path forward,” Fossum wrote. He declined to explain why the vote was postponed.

Corinne Shanahan, an HLS student who helped organize the December petition, wrote in a statement to The Crimson that the administration is “suppressing a democratic voting process.”

“It is clear Harvard Law administration is afraid to allow this vote and discover what we already know to be true: that students are deeply concerned about Israel's genocide in Palestine, and that Harvard’s punishment of students’ nonviolent protest for Palestine is both wrong and unpopular,” she added.

—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.

—Staff writer Bradford D. Kimball can be reached at bradford.kimball@thecrimson.com.