SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: January 21, 2025

Attack Types: Other

Institution(s):Harvard University

Region & Country:Americas | United States of America

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On January 21, 2025, Harvard Medical School canceled a previously approved event on wartime healthcare scheduled for that same evening.

The event was an optional evening session of Pathways 120: “Essentials of the Profession, a required course for all first year medical and dental students. It was to include a lecture by epidemiologist and Harvard Medical School alumnus Dr. Barry Levy, followed by a moderated discussion, organized by students, with families of patients from Gaza undergoing treatment in Boston.

On the morning of January 21, however, two medical school deans emailed first year medical and dental students notifying them of the event’s cancellation. The email stated that students and faculty members had “expressed concerns about hearing from individuals impacted in Gaza without also hearing from individuals impacted in Israel.” It further explained. “The conflict continues to inflame passions and provoke divisions in our community, and it is our aim to ensure that HMS provides a constructive, non-polarized educational environment for students of all backgrounds and beliefs.”

Following the initial cancellation, the medical school gave the panel organizers conditional approval to host the event as a student group, independent of Pathways 120. However, less than an hour later that approval was also rescinded.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the cancellation of a previously approved on-campus, academic event. Higher education leaders should respect academic freedom by refraining from restrictions on academic activity. Attempts to limit academic discussion and exchange undermine academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and democratic society generally.

Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/01/27/harvard-cancels-medical-lecture-featuring-patients-gaza
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/1/23/hms-cancels-gaza-patient-panel/
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2025-01-26/ty-article/harvard-med-school-cancels-panel-featuring-gazans-treated-in-u-s-citing-one-sidedness/00000194-a37f-d360-a1bc-f3ffc6e40000