Dear Members of the Harvard Community,
The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful. I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community. The grave, extensive impact of the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and its aftermath had serious repercussions on our campus. Long-simmering tensions came to the surface and, as protests and sometimes violent clashes erupted on campuses across the country, members of our community reported incidents that led them to feel targeted and shunned on the basis of their identities. In response to these accounts, I established a pair of presidential task forces last year: one to address antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, another to address anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias. I asked the members of both task forces not only to examine recent events but also to ground their work in a broad historical context. Most importantly, I asked them to recommend approaches and actions that would help the University meet its obligation to create a community in which every one of us can thrive.
I write today to share the Report of the Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias and the Report of the Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian Bias.
Though the ambition of the task forces will be obvious to any reader, any attempt to explore the complex phenomena described in the reports will have shortcomings. Both reports note limitations of the survey of experiences of community members, and the authors acknowledge that they set out to listen to the concerns of the community, not to verify the reports of disturbing experiences. Notwithstanding these caveats, the conclusions that emerge from this work are clear. We need to recognize and act on them, and we are doing that.
Separately and together, the task force reports reveal aspects of a charged period in our recent history, offering searing personal accounts as they hold up a mirror to our interactions with one another. During the listening sessions that took place last spring, Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist community members reported experiencing our campus climate as unwelcoming. In some cases, they hid overt markers of their identities to avoid confrontation. Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and pro-Palestinian community members reported feeling judged, misrepresented, and silenced. Some found our existing policies and practices wanting when they needed support or sought action. Across our community, some questioned how issues concerning Israel and Palestine were addressed on our campus, noting that they found some seminars and lectures, panel discussions, and events open to the public to be one-sided, deepening feelings of exclusion and rejection, and calling into question our institutional commitment to excellence and rigor in our academic pursuits.
Especially disturbing is the reported willingness of some students to treat each other with disdain rather than sympathy, eager to criticize and ostracize, particularly when afforded the anonymity and distance that social media provides. Some students reported being pushed by their peers to the periphery of campus life because of who they are or what they believe, eroding our shared sense of community in the process.
Harvard cannot—and will not—abide bigotry. We will continue to provide for the safety and security of all members of our community and safeguard their freedom from harassment. We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the University is a place where ideas are welcomed, entertained, and contested in the spirit of seeking truth; where argument proceeds without sacrificing dignity; and where mutual respect is the norm. Especially when tensions are high, we must embrace the challenge of seeing one another as we truly are, unique individuals with complex beliefs and identities, leaving our preconceptions behind and meeting one another with kindness and concern.
The scope of recommendations made by the task forces underscores the breadth of the challenges we face. They must be addressed with determination at every level of the University by effectively tackling issues that arise where our students congregate or live; ensuring that expectations for both students and teachers in the classroom are clearly communicated and met; nurturing vibrant debate and open speech in ways that encourage everyone to express their ideas freely; preserving the right to protest and dissent while avoiding disruption, harassment, and threats; and, when our policies are violated, ensuring that our disciplinary processes are fair, consistent, and effective. If we intend to make significant and durable change across Harvard, it is critical that we act decisively in each of these areas.
Since I assumed office in January 2024, we have made necessary changes and essential progress on many fronts. We have reiterated the rights and responsibilities we share, including time, place, and manner limitations on protest and dissent, and we have clarified expectations concerning the use of campus spaces. Both the principles outlined in the Report on Institutional Voice in the University, which limit official statements on public matters, and the recommendations of the Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group are being implemented to further the free and respectful exchange of ideas across the University.
Building on that foundation, as well as efforts undertaken in response to preliminary recommendations made by each task force, the University’s Academic Council—the president, provost, deans, and other senior leaders—is further developing and implementing new recommendations. Our efforts are focused on nurturing a widespread sense of belonging and promoting respectful dialogue; revising and implementing policies, procedures, and training; and strengthening academic and residential life. It is essential that we equip our students with the skills and experiences that they need to engage complex issues fully, to have productive and civil dialogue with people whose backgrounds and identities differ from their own, and to meet all members of our community, especially those with whom they disagree, with open minds. More on these and other measures is included in our summary of work to combat antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, and our summary of work to combat anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias, which will be updated as we continue to make progress.
The deans are reviewing recommendations concerning admissions, appointments, curriculum, and orientation and training programs, including those organized by recognized student groups, as they move toward implementation. They are also continuing to expand efforts already under way. I have asked them to share with me by the end of this term action plans designed for the College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and each professional school. This effort will dovetail with our ongoing efforts to foster open inquiry and constructive dialogue. Building upon those connections will allow us to move forward with greater intention and speed across the University.
The Office of the President and Provost will oversee the implementation of recommendations that need to be coordinated at the University level. We will initiate a research project on antisemitism; support a comprehensive historical analysis of Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians at Harvard; and speed the establishment of a University-wide initiative to promote and support viewpoint diversity. In parallel, we are initiating further review of disciplinary policies and procedures to assess their effectiveness and efficiency, and are laying the groundwork to generate annual reports describing the University’s response to complaints of discrimination or harassment.
I am deeply grateful to the members of both task forces, especially the co-chairs who led their efforts, for pursuing their work with a spirit of openness, empathy, and compassion during a period of unrest within our community. The reports are the product of strenuous, prolonged efforts by some of the most generous and dedicated citizens of our University. In carrying out their work, which was both time consuming and emotionally taxing, they shouldered extraordinary burdens. We should all commend them for their service to every one of us and to the University.
My goal now is to ensure that we continue to find ways to strengthen the fabric of our community as we meet unprecedented challenges. If the many ways in which we have come together as One Harvard over the past two weeks are any indication, we have every reason to be optimistic about our prospects. The good we do today and in the days to come is for all of us, but it will be experienced most profoundly by those who inherit Harvard from us. May our successors, whether they are Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, or of any combination of backgrounds and perspectives, find Harvard to be a place where they can be themselves, express their views freely, and encounter sympathy and understanding—a place where all are cheered on as they pursue their dreams.
Sincerely,
Alan M. Garber
