Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | –
On 10 March 2025 Interim Social Sciences Dean David Cutler requested a Zoom meeting with Professor Kafadar; the meeting took place on 13 March 2025. Professor Kafadar met with Dean Cutler for a second time on 24 March 2025. At these meetings Dean Cutler told Professor Kafadar that Harvard affiliates had complained about the alleged lack of balance and presentation of multiple viewpoints in the 19 February 2025 event on Lebanon. As we understand it, the individuals who complained about this event did not actually attend it. Professor Kafadar explained to Dean Cutler that, as CMES director, he did not interfere with programming decisions made by the faculty members who oversaw the various speaker series sponsored by the center. We note that, in recent years, no Harvard administration official had contacted center leadership to express concerns about its programming.
We note that on 25 March 2025, approximately two hours after Professor Kafadar was dismissed, Dean Hoekstra sent all Harvard center directors a message informing them that the university was adopting a policy requiring that all centers include diverse viewpoints in their programming and that their leaders be prepared to explain how they intended to accomplish this during a mandatory meeting with their respective divisional deans in the coming weeks.
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California