Harvard IOP Student Leader Resigns, Citing ‘Palestinian Exception to Free Speech’

As we neared the one-year anniversary of October 7 earlier this month, the Harvard Institute of Politics — the largest student organization on Harvard’s campus and its flagship platform for political discourse — saw a high-profile shakeup in its student leadership. 

Citing the Palestinian exception to free speech, a vocal pro-Palestine activist resigned as the chair of one of the IOP’s popular programs on campaigns and advocacy. 

The reason? Closed-door infighting over how to handle the 2024 elections and Israel-Palestine conflict in its programming. 

As concerns about free speech and censorship ramp up, the IOP shakeup marked a fundamental disagreement between the IOP’s top student leadership on how to handle political campus discourse on Israel and Palestine.

Today on Newstalk, we join our reporters to break down the dispute — and we join the student who resigned to hear his version of the story.