Revising and implementing policies, procedures, and training

Harvard and its Schools are enhancing training opportunities to address hate and bias, including specifically antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, with more specialized training offerings planned for the 2025-26 academic year.

• Community education on antisemitism. Harvard will broadly promote annual educational programs for the University community focused on recognizing and combating antisemitism. This training will be required for students, staff, and members of disciplinary boards to ensure shared understanding across the community. Harvard has already organized educational sessions on antisemitism for more than 200 faculty and administrators who participate in disciplinary processes at every School.
  • In October 2024, the College Dean of Students Office (DSO) provided training on combating antisemitism for all Tutors, Proctors, and Peer Advising Fellows.
  • In October 2024, Harvard hosted “Honoring our Shared Humanity: Countering Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias. This seminar for students explored the history of antisemitism and anti-Israeli racism. A key focus of the session was providing practical strategies to combat antisemitism and anti-Israeli biases on campus. The session aimed to foster more inclusive and equitable environments by addressing both interpersonal and systemic forms of discrimination.
  • Harvard Business School has instituted a pilot program with Project Shema, a training and support organization focused on addressing contemporary antisemitism, to offer antisemitism training to all MBA students.
  • Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences hosted a workshop in February 2025 on combating antisemitism.
  • Harvard’s Bok Center, which provides teaching and learning resources for faculty and students, offered a series of workshops on ways to incorporate training on combating antisemitism into educational sessions.

• Office for Community Conduct (OCC) staff All OCC staff reviewing complaints raising allegations of discrimination will participate in specialized professional development training, provided by the Brandeis University President’s Initiative to Counter Antisemitism, focused on recognizing and combating antisemitism and understanding the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
• New OCC Staff Member. Harvard has committed to hiring a new staff member in OCC who will consult on all complaints relating to antisemitism and other forms of shared ancestry discrimination.
• Leadership summits on antisemitism. In April 2024, more than 100 senior leaders at Harvard participated in an Inclusion & Belonging Leadership Summit: Committed to Combating Hate and Bias, which focused on antisemitism and other forms of hate. In September 2024, President Garber and leaders from other universities participated in a two-day College and University Presidents Summit on Campus Antisemitism hosted by Hillel International, the American Jewish Committee, and the American Council on Education.
• Antisemitism training for mental health professionals. Clinicians and staff from Harvard’s Counseling and Mental Health Services (CAMHS) have received cultural competency lectures from one of Harvard’s Jewish Chaplains to provide a deeper understanding of antisemitism and enable better care for students.

Harvard is working to strengthen the implementation of its policies and procedures related to complaints of discrimination.

• NDAB policy improvements. Harvard is actively working to improve the implementation of its NDAB policies and procedures and to ensure that Harvard community members understand how to report discrimination and access the support available to them.
• IHRA definition of antisemitism. In January 2025 the University issued guidance clarifying that its Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying Policies (“NDAB”) use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (“IHRA”) definition of antisemitism and consider the examples accompanying the IHRA definition to the extent that those might be useful in determining discriminatory intent.  In Spring 2025, the University provided training on this guidance to those who receive and review complaints under the University’s NDAB Policies.
• Title VI office. Harvard will affirm that the University’s Office for Community Conduct (OCC) is Harvard’s Title VI office and clarify that the University’s NDAB Policies comply with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) guidance regarding Title VI.
• Action plan for Local Designated Resources (LDR) training. Harvard is preparing an action plan and training program for personnel charged with reviewing and evaluating complaints of discrimination to strengthen Harvard’s response to complaints of discrimination.
• Annual Title VI report. Harvard will publicly reaffirm at least annually that antisemitism will not be tolerated and will, for the next five years, report annually on the University’s response to discrimination or harassment based on Title VI-protected traits and will provide transparency, consistent with state and federal privacy laws, regarding discipline outcomes in Title VI matters.

• Reviewing and updating disciplinary procedures.
  • In April 2025, Harvard’s governing boards empowered the President to call on a faculty panel of the UCRR to investigate, find facts, and impose discipline in cross-School cases involving alleged violations of the USRR or Campus Use Rules. This builds on steps taken regarding the UCRR in July 2024 that established procedures to standardize fact-finding investigations for incidents involving students from two or more Schools.
  • Following a review that began in October 2024, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences made recommendations, which have been adopted by the Dean, for updating the administrative (disciplinary) boards for Harvard College and the Harvard Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

• Anonymous reporting. Harvard continues to encourage affiliates to use the 24/7 reporting mechanisms to allow community members to report incidents of bias anonymously.

Harvard has implemented and refined various policies and guidance related to protest, dissent, and community standards to uphold both freedom of expression and the essential conditions for research, teaching and learning. These complementary efforts provide clarity for community members about how to effectively express their views while respecting shared academic spaces. This work is ongoing.

• Guidance on protest and dissent. In January 2024, the President and Deans issued new “Guidance on Protest and Dissent” (endorsed by the Corporation) that clarifies and makes more explicit rules regarding protest and dissent at Harvard. This includes making clear that demonstrations and protests are not permitted in classrooms and other spaces of instruction; libraries or other spaces designated for study, quiet reflection, and small group discussion; dormitories, residence halls, or dining halls where students live and take their meals; offices where the work of the University is carried out; or other places in which demonstrations and protests would interfere with the normal activities of the University.
• Campus use policies. In August 2024, the University announced, and the Corporation endorsed, updated Campus Use Rules that centralize existing regulations and provide clear guidelines that are intended to facilitate productive use of space and appropriate enforcement of policies. To enhance community safety and accountability, protest participants must show identification when asked to do so and must remove their face masks when showing identification.

• Library protest guidance. In November 2024, Harvard issued FAQs on Protests in Libraries explaining how the USRR applies to protests in Harvard’s libraries. The FAQs underscore, among other things, that silent protests “express[ing] a shared message … interfere with the room’s purpose as a place of study and research” and therefore violate the USRR. To protect these essential academic spaces, protest participants may have their library access privileges suspended and/or be referred to their School deans.

• Safety and security. Harvard has deployed additional law enforcement resources to protect students and ensure the safety of the entire community. The University has increased coordination between the Harvard University Police Department and local and federal law enforcement to assess and respond to any potential or actual threats to the Harvard community. When circumstances warrant, the University restricts access to Harvard Yard (the center of its Cambridge campus) to limit outside disruptions, better manage campus spaces, and ensure student safety.