Harvard University's governing board rejected a plea from faculty members on Wednesday to permit a group of 13 students to receive their degrees and graduate as they face disciplinary action for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, the Harvard Crimson reported.
On Monday, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to recommend that the 13 sanctioned students be allowed to graduate despite their disciplinary violations. Harvard Corporation's veto of the faculty vote bars the students from receiving their degrees and graduating.
"Today, we have voted to confer 1,539 degrees to Harvard College students in good standing," the Corporation wrote in a joint statement on Wednesday. "Because the students included as the result of Monday's amendment are not in good standing, we cannot responsibly vote to award them degrees at this time."
In April, protesters demanding that Harvard divest from corporations with ties to Israel formed an encampment in Harvard Yard. The demonstration lasted 20 days and ended last week when Harvard announced that it had negotiated an end to the encampment with the group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine.
While an independent Palestine may have been the primary motivator for the demonstrations, there had been reports of some Harvard protesters carrying signs reading "Hamas," the militant group that slaughtered 1,200 Israelis on Oct 7.
The Harvard board highlighted rules in the Student Handbook that require students to be in good standing to graduate.
"We respect each faculty's responsibility to determine appropriate discipline for its students," the Corporation wrote. "Monday's faculty vote did not, however, revisit these disciplinary rulings, did not purport to engage in the individualized assessment of each case that would ordinarily be required to do so, and, most importantly, did not claim to restore the students to good standing."
Wednesday's move by the board is sure to raise tensions between Harvard's faculty and administrators as to who is the ultimate governing body of the institution, according to the Crimson.
Government professor Steven Levitsky told the outlet in an interview on Tuesday that the faculty are not likely to take the veto lightly.
"I would expect a faculty rebellion, possibly a faculty rebellion against the entire governance structure, because there's already a fair amount of mistrust toward the Corporation to begin with," Levitsky said.
Harvard Corporation assured the faculty in its statement that the appeal process must run its proper course adding, "We will consider conferral of degrees promptly if, following the completion of all FAS processes, a student becomes eligible to receive a degree."
Massive protests this spring have paralyzed dozens of college campuses. Since April 18 more than 3,000 people have been arrested on 50 college and universities campuses across 26 states. More than 400 colleges have had some of demonstration on campus.