Originally Suppressed by Harvard: New Scholarly Article on Scholasticide and Resilience Published Despite Academic Censorship

A new article titled “Scholasticide and Resilience: The Gaza Genocide and the Struggle for Palestinian Higher Education” has been published in Curriculum Inquiry, one of the world’s leading peer-reviewed journals in the field of curriculum studies and educational theory (Taylor & Francis, Q1 in Scopus and Web of Science).

The article is co-authored by Dr. Chandni Desai, Sundos Hammad (Coordinator of Birzeit University’s Right to Education Campaign), Dr. Ahmed Abu Shaban, and Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti.

Grounded in a detailed theoretical and historical examination, the article explores the concept of scholasticide, the systematic destruction of education, and argues that it is a pillar of genocide within the ongoing Israeli settler-colonial project in Palestine.

Focusing on Israel’s attempt to annihilate higher education during the Gaza Genocide, the authors analyze the theoretical foundations of scholasticide, the empirical contexts shaping its development, the emergence of Palestinian universities under colonialism, Palestinian higher education survival strategies in Gaza and the West Bank, and the role and limitations of recent global academic solidarity.

The article highlights critical initiatives launched in 2024 amid ongoing bombardment, including the Emergency Committee of Universities in Gaza and the ISNAD program, which aim to preserve non-profit universities despite physical destruction, reject colonial/neoliberal reconstruction models, and articulate principles of international solidarity.

Throughout, the study emphasizes centering Palestinian universities, especially those in Gaza in all scholarly responses to scholasticide, and documents how educators and students are refusing erasure by sustaining higher education as a form of resistance and collective survival.

Reflecting on her contribution, Sundos Hammad stated that the article “bridges academic scholarship with grassroots advocacy for the right to education, preserving lived testimonies of Palestinian universities confronting systematic destruction.”

Notably, this same article was originally slated for publication in a special issue of the Harvard Educational Review (HER) on Education and Palestine. As reported by The Guardian on July 22, 2025, the entire issue wascancelled by the Harvard Education Publishing Group at the final stage, after all contributions had been accepted and edited.

The decision, which sparked outcry across academic circles, has been widely viewed as part of the growing“Palestine exception” in higher education, a term used to describe the systematic silencing or suppression of Palestinian scholarship and advocacy within Western academic institutions. Critics argue that such censorship reflects the deep entanglement of universities with political and donor pressures, undermining academic freedom and the ethical mission of education itself.

By finding a new home in Curriculum Inquiry, the authors’ work stands as both a scholarly and symbolic act of defiance, affirming the centrality of Palestinian voices in global conversations about genocide, resistance, and the future of education.

The study concludes that protecting education must be integral to all humanitarian and political responses, asserting that rebuilding Palestinian universities is not only a logistical necessity but also a moral imperative to sustain cultural and intellectual life in Palestine, and Palestinians must lead it.

Read the full article:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03626784.2025.2558520

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