In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP non-resident Fellow Peter Beinart talks with two Harvard professors – Dr. Eman Ansari & Dr. Aaron Shakow – about censorship on college/university campuses and how scholars can respond.
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Recorded on February 26, 2025
Dr. Eman Khadra Ansari is an Associate Physician in Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Khadra Ansari earned her medical degree from King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She also serves as the co-vice chair of the Joint Committee on the Status of Women at Harvard.
Dr. Aaron Shakow is a lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine. From 2017-2021, he was director of the Initiative on Healing and Humanity at the Harvard-Dubai Center for Global Health Delivery, an interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars in the social sciences and humanities and frontline health care delivery institutions. A longtime member of Partners In Health, Dr. Shakow played a key role in the group’s work on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, serving as a policy adviser at the World Health Organization during the “3 x 5” campaign to expand global access to antiretroviral therapy. He recently co-edited “Privilege and Impunity: The Struggle for Accountability in Global Health,” forthcoming from Duke University Press. A current book project, with Dr. Salmaan Keshavjee, is titled “Bait and Switch: Democracy Versus Global Health.” Dr. Shakow has taught history at Harvard, MIT and Brandeis, and edited the journal “Health and Human Rights.” He received his PhD from Harvard University.
Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNBC Political Commentator. His newest book (published 2025) is
Resources & Further Reading
“Harvard Medical School Cancels Class Session With Gazan Patients, Calling It One-Sided” (Harvard Crimson, 1/13/2025)
“A year after the Oct. 7 attacks, friends with ties to Israel and Palestine look forward” (GBH, 10/7/2024)
“I’m a Jewish Faculty Member at Harvard. Hillel Does Not Represent Me.” (Harvard Crimson, 10/23/2024)