Harvard College sees drop in early applicants compared to last year: 'Harvard's reputation has been damaged'

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Harvard sees early admission applications drop by 17%

Harvard graduate student Shabbos Kestenbaum joins 'Fox & Friends' to discuss the rise in antisemitism on college campuses and the backlash after President Claudine Gay's testimony before Congress.

Harvard College reported on Thursday its early application total and the results show a significant drop from last year.

The Ivy League institution reported that they received 7,921 early applications and accepted 692 students. The submissions are a 17% drop from last year, which saw 9,553 applications.

Bob Sweeney, a retired college counselor at Mamaroneck High School in New York who worked as a counselor for almost 30 years, told Bloomberg that the soaring antisemitism could be one of the factors in the drop in early application submissions.

Harvard President Claudine Gay, who recently made headlines for refusing to say if genocide of Jews was against Harvard policy during a congressional hearing, was accused of plagiarism earlier this week.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

"That’s possibly one of several reasons, about the concern of safety on the campus," Sweeney said. "There might be other factors as well as students are being more realistic about their expectations and chances for acceptance."

Applications were due on Nov. 1, before Harvard University President Claudine Gay’s testimony during a congressional hearing that addressed rampant anti-Semitic rhetoric on college campuses.

A current Harvard Law student, Matias Mayesh, told Fox News Digital that the results of early application submissions are "not surprising" because the academic institution's "reputation is damaged."

"Not surprising. Harvard’s reputation has been damaged due to its failure to address leftwing extremism and antisemitism," Mayesh said.

Meanwhile, Harvard's rival Yale University is seeing a bit of a gain. Yale announced Friday it received 7,856 early applications this year, a 1.4% increase from last year and the second-highest number in the school’s history.

When Fox News Digital reached out for comment, we were directed to a statement from their press release.

"It’s exciting to see that so many of the nation’s and the world’s most promising students have been admitted early to the Class of 2028.  Their extraordinary range of talent and many contributions to their communities will add immeasurably to Harvard over the next four years and beyond."

Harvard President Claudine Gay (2nd L) attends a menorah lighting ceremony on the seventh night of Hanukkah with the University's Jewish community on December 13, 2023, in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

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Additionally, the Harvard spokesperson, Jonathan Palumbo, noted a "couple of ideas to consider on the number of applications," explaining further that a big issue is "the SCOTUS ruling and all the news coverage over the summer."

"Harvard was relentlessly in the news and wonder if that had an impact," Palumbo said.

Furthermore, Palumbo provided application statistics to show that the school is actually above pre-pandemic levels of applications.

Palumbo went on to say, "We’re also thinking about the potential impact of the pandemic. If you look at the pattern below, we are actually above pre-pandemic levels of applications, a time period during which we shifted to test-optional and saw big increases."

"Otherwise, we will continue our recruitment and outreach efforts through the regular action deadline of January 1," the spokesperson added.

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Gay received tremendous backlash over her controversial testimony before Congress on antisemitism.

Under fierce questioning from Republicans at the House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, Gay was asked whether people calling for the genocide of Jews was against Harvard policy.  

She appeared to equivocate on the issue by repeatedly saying it depended on the "context." 

The embattled professor later attempted to clean up her remarks under congressional questioning by issuing a statement. However, the move did not appease her critics.

Subsequently, on top of taking heat for her testimony at a congressional hearing, reports about Gay's academic writings were also addressed by Harvard officials.

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The presidents of UPenn, Harvard and MIT testified last week about antisemitism on their campuses. (getty images)

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The Washington Free Beacon reported that Gay "paraphrased or quoted nearly 20 authors without proper attribution," according to an analysis by the investigative news site. 

Furthermore, the Manhattan Institute’s Christopher Rufo and journalist Christopher Brunet published instances of what they said were problematic sections of her Ph.D. dissertation that "violate Harvard’s own stated policies on academic integrity."

Harvard University’s top brass backed Gay following intense backlash for her comments about antisemitism and accusations of plagiarism.

Several colleges across the U.S. are grappling with social unrest amid the Hamas-Israel war that began on October 7, when Hamas forces launched an assault on the Gaza Strip.