The dean of the Harvard Kennedy School reversed his decision to deny a fellowship to Kenneth Roth, the former director of Human Rights Watch, on the grounds that Roth’s criticism of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians was “biased.”
The fellowship was subject to approval by Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf. Kathryn Sikkink, a human rights academic at the Kennedy School, told The Nation magazine earlier this month that Elmendorf told her he rejected the appointment because of what he called HRW's "anti-Israel bias." In an email to the community on Thursday, shared by a Harvard Kennedy School spokesperson, Elmendorf said he believed he had made an error. "In the case of Mr. Roth, I now believe that I made an error in my decision not to appoint him as a Fellow at our Carr Center for Human Rights.