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Being yelled at, spat on, called derogatory names. Taking Ubers for fear of harassment on the street. Dropping classes to avoid hostility or “anti-Zionist bias.” Racist, antisemitic, and Islamophobic jokes on the anonymous social media platform Sidechat. Texts to friends, left unread.

Those were among the experiences that Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian affiliates alleged they had faced at Harvard in reports from two University task forces, which were released Tuesday afternoon.

Collectively, the reports spanned more than 500 pages. The task forces that produced them each conducted roughly 50 listening sessions, drawing hundreds of students, faculty, and staff, and surveyed more than 2,000 Harvard affiliates.

Each report included anonymized quotes and experiences from Harvard affiliates who engaged in the task forces’ conversations. The reports were sent to school-level administrators for a brief fact-checking review, but the task forces largely did not verify or investigate the incidents recounted in the reports’ pages — many of which had not been previously reported to Harvard.

“We have listened to and are reporting on what we were told,” the antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias task force wrote. “We did not seek counterarguments or counterevidence.”

In the reports, the task forces issued recommendations that would touch many corners of the University, from its curricula and disciplinary policies to how Harvard’s central administration oversees programs and schools.

Some of the changes listed in the report have already been instituted, and the University has already committed to implementing more. In an email releasing the reports, Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 wrote that deans are compiling “action plans” that they will share with Garber by the end of the semester.

Here are seven takeaways from the reports:

Many Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students feel unsafe, socially excluded, and unable to speak their minds.

In survey responses and listening sessions, Jewish and Muslim students reported feeling physically unsafe at Harvard. A survey conducted jointly by the task forces found that 56 percent of Muslim and 26 percent of Jewish student respondents feared for their physical safety on campus. Only 12 percent of Christian and 8 percent of agnostic or atheist students felt similarly.

Jewish and Israeli students specifically told task force members that they faced hostility and social exclusion from peers who blamed them for the Israeli government’s actions. Some said their peers would refuse to attend social gatherings where Israeli students were present or speak with Israeli students.

Muslim students said they faced verbal and physical abuse on campus and that their peers lost jobs for being involved in Muslim faith organizations — even though they had never participated in protests. One Muslim student reported being called a “terrorist,” “baby-killer,” “towelhead,” and “antisemite” for wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional garb often worn in support of pro-Palestine advocacy.

Jewish and Muslim students have long reported concerns about bias and discrimination. But the report’s findings represent the most concrete and expansive evidence yet of discrimination against Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian affiliates at Harvard.

The antisemitism task force extensively reviewed bias in Harvard’s academic programs — and urged the University to manage programs with a firmer hand.

The antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias task force extensively reviewed complaints of one-sided programming at Harvard, writing that “politicized instruction” has contributed to intolerance on campus.

The task force singled out specific course texts as inaccurate or antisemitic, including articles which it claimed falsely characterized Israeli actions in Gaza and described Jewish opposition to California’s K-12 ethnic studies curriculum in antisemitic terms.

The report also specifically discussed several schools and programs, including the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Religion and Public Life program at the Harvard Divinity School, that have seen significant overhauls in the past several weeks. Harvard dismissed the faculty leaders at CMES in late March over an alleged imbalance in its programming about Palestine, and it announced it would shutter an initiative housed under the RPL program in early April.

The report’s authors wrote that RPL “appears to have focused on non-mainstream Jewish religious perspectives that lack widespread support within the Jewish diaspora or in Israel.”

Notably, the task force addressed HSPH’s partnership with Birzeit University, a school in the West Bank which Harvard severed ties with in March. The group said that instead of terminating the partnership altogether, a “more constructive approach” would have been conditioning continued partnership with Birzeit on adding an Israeli university partner. (Harvard agreed in January to launch a partnership with an Israeli university as part of a lawsuit settlement.)

Many of the schools singled out in the report — including HDS, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health — were identified by the Trump administration in its April 11 letter of demands as reflecting “ideological capture” and prime subjects for external audits.

The task force appeared to attempt to distance itself from external efforts to change Harvard. In an opening note to readers, the group wrote that the proposed changes must be adopted internally and expressed concern that external interference, even if well-intentioned, could make it harder for Harvrd to reform itself.

The task force also criticized instructors who rescheduled or canceled classes to allow students to attend protests, writing that they should face “significant and lasting consequences.”

“Because of the principle of academic freedom, faculty also have unusual power over their classrooms and over students,” the task force wrote, “and thus there may be a relatively low cost to using part of their authority in the service of pro-Palestinian organizing, whereas a mid-level manager at a major company could risk summary termination if they engaged in political organizing at work.”

Building on its findings, the task force urged Harvard to actively bar affiliates from creating “partisan projects” in programs and implement a “system of accountability” that would hold schools responsible for supervising programs under their purview.

It was not immediately clear what the “costs” of noncompliance would be or whether the University would officially adopt the accountability system. But Harvard did commit to a University-wide review of curricula and the establishment of expectations for instructors that would be considered in “oversight processes,” including course evaluations, compensation reviews, and hiring and promotion processes.

The anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian task force conducted a considerably less extensive review of Harvard’s programming. The group wrote that it lacked the mandate “to adjudicate particular programs or events” and that there is “likely much detail and information that is out of the reach” of the group.

Investigating individual cases could “potentially undermine the University’s own processes, which need to handle these matters fairly and efficiently,” the task force added.

Harvard is considering a center for pluralism aimed at promoting interfaith and interdisciplinary engagement.

In May 2024, the two task forces formed a joint subcommittee on pluralism to study the resources at Harvard for “interfaith engagements, interdisciplinary collaborations, religious literacy, and community building.”

In its final report, the subcommittee recommended establishing a central hub for campus pluralism efforts, through either expanding the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations or creating a new center altogether. The center would reinforce pluralism through programming ranging from orientation and interdisciplinary exchanges to interfaith experiences and campus arts.

The subcommittee also suggested the formation of a new Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life “to integrate engagement with religious identity fully within the work on pluralism.”

The subcommittee was formed after affiliates told the task forces that they felt that diversity, equity, and inclusion offices on campus fell short in addressing concerns in the fallout from Oct. 7. The subcommittee’s authors wrote that Harvard’s diversity offices “largely” prioritized work around race, disability, and sexual and gender identity — which they called important but insufficient for capturing the range of experiences on campus.

Harvard has expanded its academic offerings on Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian history and will make further efforts to do so.

Both task forces recommended Harvard invest heavily in expanding its education and research programming on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Jewish and Palestinian history, antisemitism, and Islamophobia.

The anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias task force suggested Harvard grow its academic offerings on Palestinian Studies, Arabic language, and Islamic studies. It specifically suggested creating a visiting professorship in Palestinian studies by the 2024-25 academic year and establishing two to three additional faculty positions — prioritizing a chair in Palestinian history — over the next five years.

The antisemitism report urged the University to create a dedicated research and teaching program on antisemitism to be led by a newly-appointed faculty member. It also recommended Harvard expand its academic programming on antisemitism and Jewish history in both large lecture courses, such as those in the Harvard College General Education program, and smaller seminars. And it suggested the creation of interdisciplinary courses which could count towards a secondary.

The group also urged the University to hire new faculty — including a chair in Jewish history and culture — to support these fields, potentially through a “cluster hire” of new instructors.

Harvard has already begun taking steps to expand its academic offerings. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences plans to hire a College fellow in Jewish studies for the 2025-26 academic year, publicize an offer for a chair in Jewish history and culture, and launch searches for two professorships in 2025-26.

Harvard did not explicitly commit on Tuesday to hire additional faculty in Palestinian history, despite the anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias task force’s recommendation. But it promised to implement “faculty development” and increase “academic engagement” with studies related to Arabic language and cultures, Islam, and Palestine.

Harvard has also committed to partnering with an Israeli university, in addition to existing partnerships with schools in the country today, and dedicating resources to launch a research project on antisemitism.

The task forces agreed that protest policies should be updated, but diverged on how Harvard should change them.

The task forces both reported widespread concerns among students over protest policies and the University’s system for filing complaints of bias. But the reports diverged over how best to ameliorate the issues.

The anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian task forces found that doxxing has contributed significantly to a climate of fear and intimidation on campus. In response, the group suggested that Harvard offer all affiliates, including alumni doxxed in the 2023-24 academic year, free legal services for combating doxxing attacks. It also proposed training sessions on how to combat doxxing for faculty, staff, and students.

The University did not immediately appear to endorse the recommendation, but pointed to updated guidance on doxxing that it released in September 2024.

The antisemitism task force, meanwhile, urged Harvard to ban masks at protests, a move that would allow the Harvard University Police Department to more easily identify protesters who violate University policies. The group argued that enforcing protest guidelines more stringently would ensure demonstrations don’t grade into “harassment, bullying, or intimidation.”

Masking is a common practice at many pro-Palestine rallies, and banning it was a central point in the Trump administration’s demands to Harvard. The recommendation, which has not yet been publicly endorsed by the University, could draw significant pushback from protesters concerned about doxxing.

The anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias task force did not come to a conclusion on divestment.

Many affiliates, particularly students, told the Islamophobia task force that Harvard should divest from Israel-related or military firms and make its investments more transparent. Disclosure and divestment have been key demands in pro-Palestine activism on campus for years.

The task force did not reach a conclusion about divestment, but some members recommended that discussions continue through conversations and town halls between the administration and affiliates. Other members suggested applying Harvard’s resources to engage with Palestine academically, including through supporting Palestinian universities and facilitating exchanges.

The decision to not make a conclusion about divestment was not particularly unexpected. Even after weeks of chants and rallies demanding disclosure and divestment during the pro-Palestine Harvard Yard encampment last spring, the University refused to budge.

Each Harvard school will review how its admissions policies evaluate candidates’ abilities to engage with differing perspectives.

The antisemitism report took concern with admission of students who view themselves as leaders with a directive to act, as opposed to individuals open to new perspectives — and recommended reforming admissions policies across all of Harvard’s schools.

Specifically, the group recommended prioritizing demonstrated qualities like bridge-building in evaluating candidates, as well as suggested incorporating application questions that evaluate applicants’ aptitude in navigating situations involving different perspectives.

Harvard College has already implemented the recommendation: it required applicants to the Class of 2029 to recount a time “they strongly disagreed with someone” in their written application. But the group recommended expanding such changes across the entire University.

The report also suggested asking applicants interview questions about responding to ideas and opinions which differ from their own. And it explicitly urged the University to reject candidates with track records of antisemitism and bias against Israelis based on their national origin.

The task forces had vastly different interpretations of pro-Palestine campus protests.

The antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias task force depicted pro-Palestine campus protests as disruptive to Jewish students’ lives at Harvard. The report criticized recent protests as “raucous, aggressive, and inflammatory” and said that some protest signage was threatening.

The report argued that anti-Zionist protests sometimes “crossed a line from a call for freedom and security for Palestinians and Jews alike to a stereotyped notion: that Israel is not a state, but rather a ‘settler colony’ of white Europeans who have no real connection with the land they had stolen.”

In one account in the report, a Jewish student who was involved in anti-Zionist campus organizing said that some protesters glorified Oct. 7 — which they found “triggering and harmful.”

But the anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias task force instead reported that affiliates took issue with the Harvard’s response to the protests. The task force wrote that students felt pro-Palestine protests had been met with “disciplinary measures of unprecedented severity.”

Students interpreted Harvard’s penalties against protesters as suppression of pro-Palestine speech, the task force wrote.

The report added that several affiliates viewed the Corporation’s decision to withhold the degrees of 13 graduating Harvard College seniors as a “chilling reminder of the consequences Harvard students can face for exercising free speech and engaging in student activism.”

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.