LONDON: Students have criticized two Harvard University inquiries into antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, accusing the investigative bodies of failing to listen to student concerns.
The university, long ranked one of the best in the world, set up two task forces earlier this year to investigate alleged antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias in the wake of campus unrest over the Israel-Hamas conflict.
In findings handed down on Wednesday, each found a climate of discrimination and harassment on campus, and proposed ways to combat the problem.
The task force reports described the situation facing pro-Israel students as “dire,” and also said that pro-Palestinian students’ freedoms were being suppressed.
However, both Muslim and Jewish groups claimed the findings failed to fully address concerns voiced by students during the investigation.
These included demands that the university end its links with companies profiting from Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.
One task force was accused of focusing on a narrow segment of the Jewish community, ignoring anti-Zionist Jewish students.
The investigation focused “on one type of Jew,” a student said.
“By conflating being pro-Israel with being Jewish, the task force erases my identity and endangers Jews by transforming our religious identity into political hegemony.”
In another criticism, Mahmoud Al-Thabata, a Palestinian student and Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee organizer, said: “In all of the ‘listening sessions’ I have been to with the task force, the largest concern raised was Harvard’s complicity in every Israeli massacre against Palestinians.
“None of our voices, however, were listened to, as the task force’s report failed to suggest divestment from the apartheid and genocidal regime.”
The investigation into alleged anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias on campus found that Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students’ freedom of expression had been broadly suppressed, leaving them in “a state of uncertainty, abandonment, threat, and isolation,” and facing “a pervasive climate of intolerance.”
Many students believed that the words “Palestine” and “Palestinian” had become taboo on campus.
However, the antisemitism task force found that Jewish students felt singled out for their position on the Gaza issue, and repeatedly faced “derision, social exclusion, and hostility.”
While each task force reported hearing different experiences from community members, some common themes emerged, including a perception that the university has fallen short of its stated values, specifically those that celebrate diversity while respecting difference.
To address these issues, the task forces recommended measures that include anti-harassment training for students, appointing a visiting professor in Palestinian studies, and recruiting tenure-track faculty members to expand the school’s curriculum related to Palestinian studies.
The investigations also suggested clarifying policies around bullying and bias, and improving kosher and halal food options in campus dining halls.
Harvard University announced the task forces in January amid struggles to manage its campus response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Last week, Stanford University released reports from its own task forces, which found pervasive antisemitism and suppression of pro-Palestinian speech on campus.
The formation of the task forces followed the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay, who faced a backlash over her congressional testimony on antisemitism, as well as accusations of plagiarism.
Some Jewish students filed a lawsuit against Harvard earlier this year, accusing the university of becoming “a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment.”
Toward the end of the academic year, pro-Palestinian students and activists set up camps on university campuses around the US, including at Harvard, in protest at the war. Police were called to dismantle the sites on some campuses.
Protesters at Harvard voluntarily took down their tents last month after university officials agreed to meet to discuss their questions.
However, the protesters remained at odds with the university after it announced that 13 students who took part in a protest camp would not be able to receive diplomas alongside their classmates.
With AP
