Mired in controversy over the past week after it was revealed that the school hosted a panel weighing the merits of political violence, Harvard University has several times ignored opportunities to condemn it. 

The Ivy League school has been under the microscope after it was reported that its Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights hosted a panel in early 2018 where a guest lecturer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made his case for potential armed political violence. Three Harvard faculty members participated in the panel. 

Since then, Fox News Digital has asked Harvard multiple times whether it condemns political violence. Those requests have all gone unreturned. 

Harvard University has ignored opportunities to condemn political violence. (Blake Nissen for The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Earlier this week, Fox News Digital reported that a University of Chicago faculty member was arrested for felony aggravated battery and misdemeanor obstruction/resisting charges stemming from an anti-ICE rally Oct. 3.

Associate Professor Eman Abdelhadi, a known entity in the far-left activism world, was taken into custody that day. 

In the wake of the violent charges against her, the University of Chicago also condemned violence. 

A mugshot of Eman Abdelhadi from Oct. 3, 2025. (Cook County Sheriff’s Office)

“Safety is a paramount concern at the University of Chicago. Violence runs contrary to the University’s core values of free and open inquiry, dialogue and debate,” a school spokesman said. “The University promptly looks into any safety concerns, and takes action if necessary to uphold the safety of the university community.” 

Harvard has an institutional neutrality policy, borne out of an “Institutional Voice Working Group” and a subsequent report. It was implemented last year and forbids the school from making specific comments on anything. 

The report says that the “university and its leaders should not, however, issue official statements about public matters that do not directly affect the university’s core function.”

The report mentions violence in passing. 

“The University places special emphasis, as well, upon certain values which are essential to its nature as an academic community. Among these are freedom of speech and academic freedom, freedom from personal force and violence, and freedom of movement. Interference with any of these freedoms must be regarded as a serious violation of the personal rights upon which the community is based.”

Harvard did not return a request for comment Thursday.