Revising and implementing policies, procedures, and training

Harvard and its Schools have begun instituting training to address hate and bias, including specifically Anti-Arab bias, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian bias with more specialized training offerings planned for the 2025-26 academic year.

• Leadership Summit on Inclusion & Belonging. 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 Islamophobia and other forms of hate. Breakout sessions explored the history and current manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian biases, as well as antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, and approaches to recognizing, disrupting, and mitigating impact on campus.
• Harvard College Dean of Students Office training. The Harvard College Dean of Students Office offered trainings with Muslim Campus Life, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of Muslim students on college campuses, in December 2023 and March 2024. An additional Dean of Students Office training was held in October 2024 with the Islamic Network Group and Project Shema on both antisemitism and Islamophobia.
• Anti-Muslim bias training for mental health professionals. Clinicians and staff from Counseling and Mental Health Services (CAMHS) have received cultural competency lectures from Harvard’s Muslim Chaplains to provide a deeper understanding of Islam and enable better care for students.
• Human Impact of Violence event. In September 2024, Harvard Divinity School hosted a conversation entitled, “Our Shared Humanity: Israeli and Palestinian Voices Against Violence”with guests Laila Alsheikh and Robi Damelin. Laila, a Palestinian, and Robi, an Israeli, both lost children due to the conflicts between their communities. Their exchange addressed the high human cost of violence and their reasons for hope.
• Staff and student seminars on Islamophobia and Anti-Arabism. In October 2024, Harvard hosted “Honoring our Shared Humanity: Understanding and Combatting Islamophobia and Anti-Arabism on College Campuses.” The seminars, one for students and one for staff, were designed to explore the definitions of Islamophobia, its roots and dominant tropes, and examine its impact on Muslim and Arab American communities. The seminar concluded with an interactive discussion about strategies to combat Islamophobia at both interpersonal and institutional levels.
• Book discussions. During the spring semester 2025, Harvard Divinity School will host a special spring seminar series sponsored by HDS Dean Marla F. Frederick, titled “People of Faith in Times of Crisis.” HDS students, faculty, staff, and alumni are invited to join in this three-part series examining the issues posed by the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict. The series will include three books: one providing an Israeli-Jewish perspective, another from a Palestinian perspective, and the final described as “an epic novel rooted in the real-life friendship between two men united by loss.”

Harvard is working to strengthen the implementation of 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.
• Title VI office. Harvard will affirm that the University 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 to promote consistency across personnel charged with reviewing and evaluating complaints of discrimination to strengthen Harvard’s response to such complaints.
• Annual Title VI report. Harvard 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.
• 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.
• Safety and securityHarvard 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.