Top US law firm Davis Polk announced in an internal email that it had rescinded letters of employment for three law students at Harvard University and Columbia University who signed on to organizational statements regarding Israel. The decision is one of the latest responses to open letters from university groups about the Israel-Hamas conflict that have roiled university donors, employers, alumni and students.
“These statements are simply contrary to our firm’s values and we thus concluded that rescinding these offers was appropriate in upholding our responsibility to provide a safe and inclusive work environment for all Davis Polk employees,” the email, signed by Neil Barr, said.
A screenshot of the internal email was posted on LinkedIn by small business lawyer Joseph Gerstel on Tuesday and was confirmed as authentic by a Davis Polk representative.
Barr went on to write “At this time, we remain in dialogue with two of these students to ensure that any further color being offered to us by these students is considered.”
A representative of Davis Polk pointed to a statement that was included in the email, saying: “The views expressed in certain of the statements signed by law school student organizations in recent days are in direct contravention of our firm’s value system. For this reason and to ensure we continue to maintain a supportive and inclusive work environment, the student leaders responsible for signing on to these statements are no longer welcome in our firm; and their offers of employment have thus been rescinded.”
The representative did not immediately respond to a question about how the firm identified the students as having signed the statements.
The identities of the students were not revealed in the email and it did not specify which statements the students signed, but the communication comes after a series of public statements supporting Palestinians and laying blame on Israel for the recent Israel-Hamas conflict has created a firestorm on college campuses and in corporate America since last week.
On October 10, The Harvard Crimson, one of the university’s student-run news publications, reported that more than 30 Harvard student groups signed on to a letter which said that they held Israel “entirely responsible” for “all unfolding violence” in the conflict, which came after a surprise Hamas attack on Israel claimed over 1,300 lives. Following the publication of the letter, numerous CEOs, business leaders, and a federal judge have responded by cutting ties with the university, calling for the identification of the signatories or saying they won’t hire signatories of the letter.
On October 10, Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman posted on X that he would “like to know” which students signed the Harvard statement “so I know never to hire these people.”
“Same,” wrote EasyHealth CEO David Duel in a post on X replying to Neman.
FabFitFun CEO Michael Broukhim echoed Neman and Duel, and in one post on X wrote “Discriminating against terrorist supporters is the most comically easy decision I’ll ever have to make as a CEO.”
Judge Matthew Solomson of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims also reportedly made a statement on LinkedIn that he would not let any of the students who signed on to these statements clerk for him.
Prominent donors have also cut ties with Harvard over the statement, including the Wexner Foundation — co-founded by Leslie Wexner, who was formerly the CEO of Victoria’s Secret.
The Harvard Crimson reported last week that at least four online websites have revealed the identities and personal information of students in groups that had signed the statement. The Harvard student group that issued the statement has since removed the list of organizations that signed on to it.
Harvard’s President Claudine Gay pushed back on the students’ statement, writing in her own statement to the Crimson on October 10 that “no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.”
Other Ivy League universities, including Columbia University, had student groups that issued similar joint statements in support of Palestinians.
A week previously, another prominent NYC law firm, Winston & Strawn, announced it had rescinded a former summer associate’s letter of employment over their “inflammatory comments” that were distributed to the NYU Student Bar Association.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
