(Editors) Harvard Law Review, which the federal secretary of education announced this week is the subject of a discrimination investigation, is awarding a $65,000 fellowship to the student who faced misdemeanor criminal charges for assaulting a Jewish student during an anti-Israel campus protest.
Law student Ibrahim Bharmal, who pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor assault and battery charge, was ordered by a Suffolk County judge this week to complete an anger-management class and 80 hours of community service as a pre-trial diversion. The charge related to what a prosecutor described as “a hands-on assault and battery … a gang gathered around … actual interpersonal violence” against a Jewish Harvard Business School student during an anti-Israel protest on the Harvard campus on October 18, 2023. Bharmal’s lawyer, Monica Shah, has downplayed the severity of the interaction, telling the judge this week, “It was not hands-on. It involved a scarf, and there’s no physical injuries.”
