Jan 20, 2023
Harvard Backtracks on Fellowship Award
Former Human Rights Watch director said the Kennedy School rejected him over his criticism of Israel. The dean reversed course Thursday.
Kenneth Roth
(University of Pennsylvania)
A Harvard University dean says he’s reversing course and offering a fellowship to Kenneth Roth, the former longtime Human Rights Watch executive director who said he was initially rejected over his criticism of Israel.
Roth, whose Jewish father fled Nazi Germany as a boy, said Thursday he will accept the John F. Kennedy School of Government fellowship, while also honoring the visiting fellowship the University of Pennsylvania gave him for this academic year.
But he’s not done questioning the initial decision.
“This is about much more than just my fellowship,” Roth said. “This is only going to be victory for academic freedom if the broader threat to academic freedom is addressed. And that means coming clean about who influenced [Dean Doug] Elmendorf and reaffirming that criticism of Israel is not grounds for penalizing scholars.”
The free speech group PEN America is also continuing to ask questions.
“By denying him the fellowship, the university sent an alarming message that champions of human rights could see their academic careers derailed for speaking out against powerful governments,” Jonathan Friedman, the group’s director of free expression and education programs, said in a statement. “It is important for institutions to be able to recognize where they have made an error that encroaches on free speech and academic freedom and to correct it; Harvard deserves credit for that. That said, questions remain about why Roth was denied this fellowship in the first place.”
Roth and his supporters said Doug Elmendorf, dean of the Kennedy School,
blocked his appointment over his criticism of Israel.
The Nation first reported on the allegations Jan. 5.
“First, let me emphasize that my [rejection] decision was not influenced by donors,” Elmendorf wrote in
a letter to the “Harvard Kennedy School Community” Thursday. He and the Kennedy School didn’t comment further Thursday.
“Donors do not affect our consideration of academic matters,” he wrote. “My decision also was not made to limit debate at the Kennedy School about human rights in any country. As a community we are steadfastly committed to free inquiry and including a wide range of views on public policy, and the appointment of a Fellow is never an endorsement of the views of that individual nor a refutation of other views. My decision on Mr. Roth last summer was based on my evaluation of his potential contributions to the school.”
Roth said the fellowship is unpaid. Elmendorf’s letter doesn’t explain why he found Roth’s “potential contributions” unworthy of the honor.
“I now believe that I made an error in my decision not to appoint him as a fellow at our Carr Center for Human Rights [Policy],” Elmendorf wrote. “I am sorry that the decision inadvertently cast doubt on the mission of the school and our commitment to open debate in ways I had not intended and do not believe to be true. The broader faculty input I have now sought and received has persuaded me that my decision was not the best one for the School.”
Mathias Risse, director of the Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, initially proposed Roth as a fellow.
“There was an enormous amount of [Kennedy School] faculty mobilization in support of having Ken Roth here as a fellow, and in fact, the faculty spoke pretty much unanimously in this matter (and this would include many who disagree with him on certain things),” Risse wrote in an email Thursday. “From where I stand, it is because of this faculty input that the dean changed his mind, to the point of acknowledging that he had made an error earlier.”
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