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{shortcode-a0fafb3727a5405eac46bd1741f1eafab86bbf7e}arvard’s twin task forces on combating bias toward Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian affiliates released their long-awaited reports on Tuesday afternoon — describing an atmosphere of fear and exclusion, as well as deep divisions over curricula, protests, and the scope of academic freedom.
The reports, each hundreds of pages long, urged Harvard to implement sweeping changes that would alter everything from the University’s oversight of programs and disciplinary processes to its academic programming and admissions policies.
Both task forces began their work after being tapped by Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 in January 2024 as Harvard wrestled with the on-campus aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s war in Gaza. The groups released preliminary recommendations in June but delayed their final findings for months beyond a fall 2024 deadline.
Now, the reports arrive as Harvard sits in the glare of an uncomfortable — and intensifying — spotlight. Republicans in Washington have launched a blitz of investigations into the University and revoked billions of dollars in funding over what they say is Harvard’s failure to combat antisemitism.
As a result of the task forces’ findings, Harvard will instruct school deans to strengthen academic review processes for courses and curricula, will review admissions policies at each school to ensure they evaluate candidates’ willingness to engage with diverse perspectives, and is “actively exploring” the establishment of a major new center for pluralism.
In a message releasing the reports, Garber described accounts in the reports as “searing” and lamented “the reported willingness of some students to treat each other with disdain rather than sympathy, eager to criticize and ostracize.”
“Some students reported being pushed by their peers to the periphery of campus life because of who they are or what they believe,” Garber wrote. He apologized for the times when the University “failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community.”
The task forces conducted a joint survey of nearly 2,300 affiliates from May to August 2024. Fifty-six percent of Muslim and 26 percent of Jewish student respondents reported feeling physically unsafe on campus — a figure significantly higher than the 12 percent of Christian and 8 percent of atheist or agnostic students who felt similarly.
Meanwhile, 92 percent of Muslim and 61 percent of Jewish respondents, including faculty and staff as well as students, feared academic and professional repercussions for voicing their personal or political opinions — compared to 59 percent for all respondents.
Each task force held roughly 50 listening sessions, reaching hundreds of Harvard affiliates, in the spring and summer of 2024. The reports also included dozens of firsthand accounts — largely anonymous — of antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, and anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias.
Jewish and Israeli students told task force members that they experienced social shunning and hostility from peers who blamed them for the Israeli government’s actions. Some said peers would refuse to talk with them because they came from “a genocidal country” or attend social gatherings where Israeli students were present. Several reported dropping classes they felt were one-sidedly anti-Israel.
Muslim students, meanwhile, said their peers lost jobs over their involvement in Muslim faith organizations and faced verbal and physical abuse on campus. Palestinian students said they found navigating daily life challenging and isolating with the ongoing war in Gaza — a feeling only exacerbated by a perceived lack of empathy from administrators, faculty, and staff.
In one account, a Muslim student said an individual poured alcohol over their Palestinian friend as he was standing outside of his dorm wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional garment often worn for pro-Palestine advocacy. Another anonymous student recounted being called a “terrorist,” “baby-killer,” “towelhead,” and “antisemite” during their freshman year because of their decision to wear a keffiyeh.
In another account, an anonymous Jewish student intended to speak at a conference about being a grandchild of Holocaust survivors who helped tens of thousands migrate to Israel. But the conference directors rebuffed the speech, laughing in the student’s face and saying the speech was not “tasteful” even though it had no mention of Zionism or the current war in Gaza, according to the account in the report.
The task force on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias attributed a culture of intolerance to pro-Palestine activism that became more disruptive and less interested in compromise over the past two decades, and a student body that became more racially and nationally diverse but less Jewish.
The report on anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias said the atmosphere of fear and intimidation was the product of doxxing trucks displaying pro-Palestine students as antisemitic, and verbal and physical assaults on Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and pro-Palestine students, as well as perceived indifference from University administrators.
The antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias task force identified “politicized instruction” as a source of intolerance and extensively reviewed student complaints of bias in Harvard’s academic programs. Its report singled out individual courses — including at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard School of Public Health — that it allegedly presented a one-sided view of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The report also identified specific course texts as objectionable, which it claimed presented false characterizations of Israeli actions in Gaza, described Jewish opponents of California’s K-12 ethnic studies curriculum in antisemitic terms, or minimized Jewish land claims in Israel by presenting Israeli Jews as settlers. Some of the materials were removed from syllabi in subsequent iterations of the courses.
And the report included an extended review of a recording of a webinar jointly organized by HGSE and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. The report described a moment where one of the panelists seemed to shut down a student’s question after hearing their recognizably Jewish first name. It concluded that the panel discussion “seemed to lack historical and political context essential for a comprehensive understanding” of the Israel-Palestinen conflict.
Many of the groups named in the antisemitism report have been previously singled out by critics as hotbeds of antisemitism at Harvard. In its updated list of demands to Harvard sent April 11, the Trump administration listed CMES and several Harvard schools, including HSPH and HGSE.
The anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian task force, however, raised concerns that some efforts to reshape Palestinian programming — including leadership changes at CMES and the suspension of Harvard’s partnership with Birzeit University in the West Bank — were “potential threats to academic freedom.”
The report described widespread dissatisfaction among Muslim, Palestinian, Arab, and pro-Palestinian students with the University’s response since Oct. 7. Palestinian affiliates said they felt University leaders expressed a “notable lack of empathy” as the war in Gaza raged on. The group also reported allegations that the administration instituted a double standard for pro-Palestinian advocacy stemming from its handling of protests.
The task force also identified significant concern over the administration’s handling of the doxxing of students over their involvement or perceived involvement with pro-Palestine campus advocacy. Members felt the responses, which varied widely across schools, were inadequate and constituted “an especially egregious lapse in Harvard’s duty of care.”
Both reports contained extensive recommendations aimed at addressing the problems identified by the task forces.
The two task forces recommended the University to overhaul its complaint system and anti-discrimination procedures.
The antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias task force urged Harvard to prohibit face masks at protests and “take appropriate action against” unrecognized student groups — an apparent reference to Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, an unrecognized pro-Palestine advocacy group.
The anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias task force urged the University to establish consistent guidelines and training for frontline staff on managing protest and counter protest activities. And it recommended that Harvard provide support for affiliates who have been doxxed — including through providing legal support, potentially reimbursing individuals who personally covered legal fees, and advocating for time-limited support after graduation.
The antisemitism and anti-Arab bias task force suggested the University ask applicants in interviews and essays about their aptitude in navigating diverse viewpoints. It also suggested Harvard establish a dedicated research project on antisemitism, develop interdisciplinary courses on antisemitism and Jewish history that could count toward a secondary, and hire new faculty — potentially through a “cluster hire” of multiple instructors — and a chair in Jewish history and culture.
The task force also urged the University to bar staff and non-ladder faculty from creating “partisan projects” under Harvard’s name and implement a “system of accountability” in which schools would be penalized if they failed to effectively supervise programs under their purview. The group recommended that Harvard establish and enforce rules for instructors that would ensure they foster academic freedom, including by considering instructors’ ability to engage with diverse viewpoints in hiring and promotion decisions.
The University committed to providing financial support and space for the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which sued the University for allegedly ignoring antisemitism on campus, to host an annual campus event on antisemitism for the next three years.
The anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias task force recommended expanding course offerings on Palestinian studies, Arabic language, and Islamic studies, as well as establishing two to three additional faculty positions, including a chair in Palestinian history.
Harvard touted its past efforts to recognize Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian affiliates and their concerns, including by updating its guidelines on doxxing and hosting talks on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The University also announced that it would “engage a subject matter expert to undertake a comprehensive historical overview of Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians at the University.”
Beyond that, Harvard did not appear to adopt any additional new commitments in response to recommendations that uniquely appeared in the anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian bias task force report.
“The scope of recommendations made by the task forces underscores the breadth of the challenges we face,” Garber wrote in his Tuesday message. “They must be addressed with determination at every level of the University.”
—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.
