Librarian Who Removed Chabad Poster Is No Longer Employed at Harvard

Former Radcliffe Institute librarian Jonathan S. Tuttle is no longer employed at Harvard after he was filmed tearing down a poster showing the faces of Israeli hostages during a Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine rally on March 3, a University spokesperson confirmed Sunday.

By Sunday, Tuttle’s name and contact information had been removed from the Schlesinger Library’s official website, where his title was previously listed. Tuttle worked as a cataloguer of published materials at the Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in a Sunday statement that the “Harvard employee involved in an incident during a protest last week is no longer affiliated with the University.”

Tuttle did not respond to a request for comment.

During HOOP’s March 3 rally, Tuttle ripped down one of multiple posters that Harvard Chabad had displayed on kiosks in Harvard Yard showing the faces of the Bibas children, two Israeli citizens that militants took hostage during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

On Wednesday — two days after the poster was removed — Sherri A. Charleston, Harvard’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, identified the protester as a University employee in an email sent to University affiliates, which did not name Tuttle. She condemned the act “in the strongest possible terms” in the email.

Charleston wrote in the email that the poster’s removal was a violation of Harvard’s Campus Use Rules, which were released in August 2024 and forbid “tampering with or removing” approved displays.

Later on Wednesday, Radcliffe Institute Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin reaffirmed Charleston’s message in a letter to Radcliffe affiliates, writing that she supports the “the right of all Americans and all members of our community to protest in support of positions that we hold dear,” but that Tuttle’s actions were in violation of Harvard’s policies.

“I strongly support the right of all Americans and all members of our community to protest in support of positions that we hold dear,” Brown-Nagin wrote.

“But disruptive behaviors—including property destruction or defacement and acts of vandalism that seek to suppress or censor the speech of others—are not protected speech,” she added. “They are behaviors that constitute misconduct; they violate multiple Harvard and Radcliffe rules and may also be punished under criminal law.”

Tuttle’s departure comes as Harvard faces intense scrutiny — and funding threats — from the Trump administration over its response to campus antisemitism.

A federal task force announced last week that it would visit Harvard and nine other universities to investigate antisemitism allegations. The Trump administration’s Friday announcement to cut $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University had several Harvard critics anticipating the Trump administration would focus its attention on Harvard next.

—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.