Harvard University released its long -awaited anti -Semitism and prejudice against Muslims, presenting a striking criticism of how its students behaved after Hamas’s attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
“I apologize for the times when we failed to meet the high expectations that we rightly established for our community,” said Harvard President Alan Garber, on a letter on Tuesday (29) who accompanied the reports, which offered university recommendations in areas such as admissions, complaints and teaching.
Garber, who recently recognized Harvard anti -Semitism, is promoting his studies as the oldest and richest university in the US faces multiple government investigations into Jewish students and campus racial discussion.
Reports analyze a period tumultuous in the last school year, marked by anti-Israel protests and camps at Harvard Yard, as well as allegations that protonial groups disclosed personal information from protesters.
Although the federal government criticized Harvard for anti -Semitism after October 7 attacks, criticism under the Trump government evolved into an attack on university governance, its diversity programs, and its supposed liberal bias. This Monday (28), the government opened another investigation, alleging discrimination at Harvard Law Review, magazine of the University Faculty of Law.
The school, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, countered the accusations, stating that they represent a government effort to exercise control over the university rather than approaching anti -Semitism. Harvard sued the government this month, accusing him of illegally suspending funding after the university refuses to comply with “unconstitutional demands.”
Continues after advertising
Garber created the task forces on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in January 2024, weeks after taking over as an interim president after Claudine Gay’s sudden resignation, the university’s first black president. She was forced to leave after charges of plagiarism and criticism of her disastrous response in a congressional statement about calling himself by Jewish genocide against the university’s politics.
The task forces reports total more than 500 pages and, at times, offer blunt reports about the lives of Jewish, Israeli, Muslims and Arabs students. They were based on interviews with community members and written by groups composed by more than a dozen teachers, students and employees.
Report on Anti -Semitism
The task force to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel prejudice described a campus where anti-Semitism was excluded from forms of prejudice such as racism or xenophobia.
Continues after advertising
The report included the example of a Jewish student who planned to make a speech about his experiences as a grandson of a Holocaust survivor. However, the student reported being informed that “he could not mention his grandfather’s rescue mission in the speech because he involved Israel.” The discourse did not mention today’s war or Zionism, being strictly on the Holocaust.
The report also described a “new era” of pro-passion organization, with tactics such as inserting discussions about the Palestinian cause in various areas of student life and using disruptive tactics at important events, such as freshman call and graduation day at the Faculty of Medicine.
The anti-Semitism task force has recommended changes in eight categories, including admissions and discipline. For admissions, he suggested evaluating a candidate’s aptitude to navigate situations with divergent points of view – something that has already implemented a new writing issue announced last year.
Continues after advertising
Report on Anti-Muçulman Prejudice
The task force to combat anti-muslim prejudice, anti-tail and anti-palletin reported that students and other members of the community felt “abandoned and silenced” during the school year of 2023-24.
Muslim students said to the task force that they lived in fear. One reported that colleagues lost their jobs because they were leaders in Muslim faith groups. They also expressed concern about the practice of “doxxing” – the dissemination of personal information without consent – which, according to them, created a climate of intimidation aggravated by the perception that the administration’s response was inadequate.
The Report on Anti-Muslim Prejudice suggested seven sets of recommendations, related to safety, freedom of expression and transparency. Proposals included the increase in Palestinian studies courses and the strengthening of intercultural understanding.
Continues after advertising
The authors of the reports said they sought to hear the concerns of community members without checking them. “The conclusions that emerge from this work are clear,” wrote Garber. “We need to recognize them and act on them, and we are doing it.”
He stated that Harvard made progress in limiting official statements on public matters not related to the school’s central mission and reiterate rules on time and the place of protests. The university also pointed out other actions it took, including the development of “dialogue skills”, the offer of options kosher enhanced and supply of community support during Ramadan.
Focus areas
Reports did not recommend whether Harvard should disinur his $ 53 billion Israeli or US arms manufacturers, a large demand from many pro-Palestinos protesters. Garber has said earlier that Harvard’s consistent position is that he has no intention of “dwolsting from Israel.”
Continues after advertising
Garber said the school will focus on three areas: foster a widespread sense of belonging and promote respectful dialogue; revise and implement policies, procedures and training; and strengthen academic and residential life.
New actions that Harvard will take include an initiative to promote the diversity of points of view and an additional review of disciplinary policies and procedures to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency. Harvard will also review the recommendations, some of which can be implemented by the University and others by individual schools, such as admissions.
The institution spent more than a year emphasizing the efforts it took to combat anti -Semitism, including education and safety measures. In recent weeks, the school has placed the Harvard Palestinian Solidarity Committee in the probative period and forced the leaders of the Middle Eastern Study Center faculty to leave their positions. Harvard also suspended a partnership with Birzeit University in West Bank.
On Monday, Harvard announced that his office of diversity, equity and inclusion would be renamed as community and life on campus. This is aligned with its current focus on building community, the school said.
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
