Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Facebook posts

stated on April 30, 2024 in a Facebook reel:

Video shows “protesters at Harvard replace American flag with Palestinian flag.”

Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen next to the statue of John Harvard, draped in the Palestinian flag, at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on April 25, 2024. (AP)

By Sara Swann May 3, 2024

No, protesters at Harvard didn’t ‘replace’ the American flag with the Palestinian flag

If Your Time is short

Student protesters raised a Palestinian flag in Harvard Yard on April 27, a Saturday.
Harvard University’s media relations department said the American flag was not flying on that day and therefore was not replaced. According to Harvard’s procedures, the American flag is raised in front of University Hall only on weekdays.
The Harvard Crimson, the college’s student newspaper, also reported that the American flag was not flying then.

See the sources for this fact-check

Amid rising tensions from college campus protests nationwide, some social media users claimed pro-Palestinian protesters took down the American flag.

In a video, shared April 30 on Facebook, three people wearing black and white keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress, hoisted the Palestinian flag over the John Harvard statue at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As the flag rose, protesters gathered in Harvard Yard chanted, "Down, down with occupation. Up, up with liberation. Free, free Palestine."

The Facebook post’s caption said, "Absurd: Woke protesters at Harvard replace American flag with Palestinian flag."

(Screengrab from Facebook)

Other Facebook posts made similar claims. These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Sign up for PolitiFact texts

These posts are misleading. The protesters at Harvard did not "replace" the American flag with the Palestinian flag.

Harvard University’s media relations department said in an April 27 statement that "the American flag was not flying on University Hall at the time the other flags were raised."

According to Harvard’s procedures, the American flag is raised on University Hall, where the video was taken, at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday and lowered at 4 p.m. "for proper storage," the university said.

Bloggers

stated on December 9, 2018 in a headline

"Principal bans candy canes."

The Harvard Crimson, the college’s student newspaper, reported that protesters raised three Palestinian flags in Harvard Yard after 6 p.m. on April 27, a Saturday, so the American flag was not flying then.

The Palestinian flags were taken down soon after they were raised, the Crimson reported.

Harvard said the flag raising breached university policy and the flag raisers will be disciplined.

We rate the claim that protesters at Harvard "replaced" the American flag with the Palestinian flag False.