Harvard University has appointed Sheryl WuDunn, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Goldman Sachs executive,to the vice chair of the executive committee of its Board of Overseers — the institution's second-highest governing body. The move,announced for the upcoming academic year, has ignited a firestorm of criticism from pro-Israel activists and Jewish students,who say the university is rewarding a family with a record of inflammatory commentary on Israel. at the center of the backlash is WuDunn's husband, New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof , whose May 11 column accusing Israeli prison guards of sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees was branded a modern-day 'blood libel' by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Why the May 11 column on Israeli prisons triggered a boardroom backlash

According to the Daily Mail, Kristof's May 11 column in the New York Times included graphic allegations that Israeli prison guards had sexually abused Palestinian detainees. Netanyahu's office called the piece a modern-day 'blood libel,' and Israel's prison service categorically rejected the accusations. The Times defended the column as 'deeply reported' and 'extensively fact-checked.' WuDunn publicly backed her husband, praising his reporting as 'careful,meticulous, and courageous.'

Harvard's existing pressure: funding freezes, federal probes, and lawsuits

The appointment arrives at a time when Harvard is already under intense scrutiny for its handling of antisemitism following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. As the source reports, the university has faced funding freezes, federal probes, and lawsuits from the Trump administration over allegations of a toxic campus culture that equates anti-Zionism with the routine exclusion of pro-Israel students and staff. The decision to elevate WuDunn, critics argue, shows a pattern of indifference.

Alexander Kestenbaum's charge: 'Harvard moved faster on Trump than on antisemitism'

Alexander 'Shabbos' Kestenbaum, a prominent Harvard alumnus and vocal critic of the university's response to antisemitism, told Fox News that the timing was 'deeply troubling.' He argued that Harvard took on the Trump administration's funding demands with 'far greater alacrity and seriousness than they ever even pretended to fight against antisemitism.' Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, slammed the appointment as 'an unfortunate, though not surprising decision given Harvard's ongoing failure to adequately address antisemitism.'

Who is Sheryl WuDunn — and what remains unknown

WuDunn herself is a formidable figure: a former New York Times journalist and senior executive who, with Kristof, won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests. But the source leaves open key questions.. What specific qualifications did Harvard's board consider for this vice-chair role? Did the university's leadership discuss Kristof's column before the appiontment? And why was the announcement made just days after the controversial piece was published, as Kestenbaum noted? Harvard has not commented on any internal deliberations.