Harvard antisemitism, Islamophobia task forces find fear

Agency :

Jewish and Muslim students at Harvard University faced bigotry and abuse as the Massachusetts campus was roiled by protests last year, according to two reports released on Tuesday that found many felt shunned by peers and professors for expressing political beliefs.

Harvard and other universities face extraordinary pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration over allegations of antisemitism and leftist bias.

The reports, jointly amounting to more than 500 pages, were the result of two task forces Harvard set up a year before Trump took office, one on combating antisemitism and anti-Israel bias, the other on combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias, reports Reuters.

Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a letter accompanying the reports that they included “searing personal accounts” drawn from about 50 listening sessions with about 500 students and employees.

He wrote that Harvard would do more to teach its students how to have “productive and civil dialogue” with people from different backgrounds and would promote “viewpoint diversity.”
The task forces recommended that Harvard review its admissions, appointments, curriculum, and orientation and training programs, as well as change its disciplinary processes.

They also encouraged more classroom teaching about “Israel/Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Garber wrote that Harvard will begin a research project on antisemitism and support “a comprehensive historical analysis” of Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians at the university. He said the school would also make its disciplinary processes more effective and efficient.

The Trump administration has demanded that Harvard work to reduce the influence of faculty, staff and students deemed activists, as part of a crackdown on what it says is antisemitism that erupted on college campuses in 2023 after the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel and subsequent war in Hamas-controlled Gaza. It also urged Harvard to audit departments to ensure “viewpoint diversity” and take other steps.