Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has withdrawn from two Harvard fellowship programs, citing "anti-Semitic vitriol" on campus in the wake of Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The Republican governor, who left office earlier this year, had accepted fellowships at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health several months ago.
In a letter to the university, which Hogan posted on X, he said he just finished a similar fellowship program at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics and "was looking forward to sharing leadership lessons with the next generation of leaders at Harvard."
He then said would "regretfully" no longer participate after more than 30 Harvard student organizations signed onto a statement that blamed Israel for the brutal attack.
"I cannot condone the dangerous anti-Semitism that has taken root on your campus," he wrote. "This horrific terrorist attack was the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust and it should be universally condemned as exactly what it is: Pure evil."
Released the day of the attack, the student statement said they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."
"Today's events did not occur in a vacuum," they wrote. "For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to 'open the gates of hell,' and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced."
National backlash to the statement was swift, with CEOs vowing not to hire any of the students upon graduation and companies rescinding job offers.
Newsmax reached out to Harvard for comment, but the university did not immediately respond.
In a statement two days after the devastating attack, Harvard President Claudine Gay denounced Hamas' violence and stressed that the students do not speak for the university.
"Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership," she wrote. "We will all be well served in such a difficult moment by rhetoric that aims to illuminate and not inflame."
In his letter, Hogan said that the students have "a right to free speech" but said "they do not have a right to have hate speech go unchallenged" by the university.
"Harvard's failure to immediately and forcefully denounce the anti-Semitic vitriol from these students is in my opinion a moral stain on the University," he said. "This is not a decision I have taken lightly, but it is my hope that it may help further spur you to take meaningful action to address anti-Semitism and restore the values Harvard should represent to the world."
More than 1,400 people were killed in the attack on Israel, with hundreds more wounded and taken hostage.