SO HERE’S A STORY BRIMMING WITH SYMPATHY FOR THE HARVARD STUDENTS WHO ENDORSED HAMAS. But it’s worth reading for what it reveals.

Such comments represent a sea change in the cozy relationship between Harvard and the elite institutions where its alumni have traditionally forged their careers. An investor at an asset management firm in Silicon Valley privately told Insider that he recently spoke to a hedge-fund founder who made no bones about how he approaches hiring. When a résumé hits his desk, the founder said, he skips over the sections on experience and education and instead races to the bottom of the page, where applicants list their “activities.” Then, if he sees something he doesn’t like, he will simply “rip up” the résumé and reject the applicant as a “bad cultural fit.”

For Harvard students — especially those in the business and law schools — having prominent leaders in your chosen profession openly declare that they won’t hire graduates who hold political views they disagree with is not an academic issue — it’s an existential threat. In a visit to Harvard, Insider spoke with a range of students about the backlash to the statement on Israel. Many expressed qualms about the tone of the letter, or the way it was handled. But even some who opposed it felt that the threats against its signatories had gone too far.

One MBA student, who thinks the statement was “too strong,” believes it is unfair for companies to demand the names of students who signed it. (Like most students, she spoke on the condition of anonymity, given the potential for reprisals.) Similarly, a Jewish graduate student in Middle Eastern studies said he is “frustrated and angry and sad” to see the truck circling campus branding signatories as antisemitic.

“My take is everyone is free to hire or not hire who they want,” he said. “But I don’t think anyone’s personal information should be made public. I don’t think a 19-year-old who feels something right now and decides to put their name on something should have the rest of their lives decided in this moment. We’ve all done things that we would rather we hadn’t.” . . .

But now, some Harvard students fear that the backlash from the business community will have a chilling effect on student speech. Like it or not, they say, students have to think about how expressing their views could affect their financial and professional prospects. That’s especially true when Wall Street billionaires are posting on X, formerly Twitter, and professional network LinkedIn has become a home for all kinds of sharing. There’s every chance today that what’s said on campus won’t stay on campus.

A first-year law student told Insider that students would be wise to think through what voicing their opinions could mean for their future employment, especially in a buttoned-down field like law. “The general advice,” he said, “is to keep your opinions to yourself for the most part.”

A second-year law student, who was appalled by the letter, likewise sympathized with fellow students who were unnerved by having their words provoke such ire beyond the campus. “There is a real employment consequence for people — and that is a scary situation,” she said. “We are all here with a lot of student loans, and we need to work.”

Sorry, guys, I didn’t make the new rules. But those are the new rules.