Harvard Commits to Change After Studies Find Antisemitism, Islamophobia Have Seeped Into Coursework and Campus Life
Harvard released two highly anticipated reports on campus antisemitism and Islamophobia on Tuesday, each finding that anti-Israel and anti-Muslim bias is seeping into coursework and campus life.
Then-interim President Alan Garber convened two separate task forces in January 2024 to study the campus tensions over conflict in the Middle East. The task forces published initial findings in June 2024, but the teams' final reports were delayed following conflict with the Trump administration.
'The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful,' Garber wrote in a letter to the campus community. 'I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community.'
The Department of Human Health and Services' Office for Civil Rights demanded Harvard turn over the reports by Friday, so the task forces published the combined 532-page studies on Tuesday, three days before that deadline.
The antisemitism task force found that anti-Israel sentiment had extended into coursework, social life, the hiring of some faculty members and the worldview of certain academic programs. The anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias task force found that students in that community found alienation and general discomfort on campus, with 92% of Muslim students surveyed saying they believed they would face academic or professional penalty for theirs political ideologies.
Both task forces called for anti-bullying policies, greater consistency in disciplinary policies and more respectful and encouraging discourse as potential solutions. Each report also expressed that students in the respective communities were cyber-bullied, pressured to hide their identities for fear of doxxing and pushed to the fringes of campus life.
But the reports diverged and provided conflicting recommendations, as well. The anti-Muslim task force asked the university to reconsider its stance on 'divestment, disclosure and engagement' with Israeli companies, while the antisemitism task force noted that the divestment movement on campus alienated Israeli and Jewish students.
The anti-Muslim task force also recommended increasing the discourse on Palestine, while the antisemitism task force criticized the university for offering one-sided, pro-Palestine courses.
President Garber wrote in his email that Harvard will start a research project on antisemitism, support a historical analysis of Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians at Harvard, and speed up the establishment of an initiative to promote viewpoint diversity, per the groups' suggestions.
Some other recommendations from the task force have already been implemented: Harvard has adjusted its protest rules, restricted its ability to comment on political matters and initiated programming on constructive dialogue. Some mandated Trump administration demands align with findings from the antisemitism report, specifically that many Jewish students did not feel welcomed by the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Harvard has since renamed that office and adjusted its mandate.
These reports come after the Ivy League university sued the Trump administration for its 'unlawful' $2.2 billion freeze on federal grants and research funds, saying the administration was trying to 'punish Harvard for protecting its constitutional rights.'
'The tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution's ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries and innovative solutions,' Harvard's lawyers wrote in the April 21 filing.
The post Harvard Commits to Change After Studies Find Antisemitism, Islamophobia Have Seeped Into Coursework and Campus Life appeared first on TheWrap.
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