Supporting belonging and promoting respectful dialogue

Harvard and its Schools have prioritized efforts to build and affirm a feeling of belonging for every member of our community. The University has committed to support belonging among Jewish and Israeli students, faculty, and staff, including through community-building initiatives, specially trained support staff, and funded religious and cultural events.

• Online safety guidance and resources. In October 2023, Harvard issued comprehensive guidance on issues relating to doxxing, online harassment, and personal online security, including resources available to community members experiencing these issues. The University also developed and distributed a guide, Protecting Against Online Abuse and Harassment, to help students, faculty, and staff recognize and report online harassment. HUPD, working with Harvard’s information security team, has processes in place to receive and act on these reports.
• Doxxing/harassment guidance. In September 2024, President Alan Garber, Provost John Manning, and the Deans of Harvard’s Schools released guidance clarifying that doxxing violates the University-wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities’ (USRR) prohibition against “intense personal harassment” and constitutes “bullying” under the University’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying (NDAB) Policies. The Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), working with Harvard’s information security team, has established processes to receive and respond to these doxxing reports.
• Engagement with Jewish community organizations. Harvard leaders have participated in numerous events at Harvard Hillel, Harvard Chabad, and other Jewish organizations across the community. They have also engaged with the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and the Anti-Defamation League to gain insights into best practices for tracking and addressing antisemitism on college campuses.
• Enhanced Kosher dining options. Harvard College has expanded options at Harvard Hillel and on campus to ensure hot Kosher meals are available to students on Harvard College’s meal plan.
• University leadership attendance at events. Harvard leaders attend dinners at Harvard Hillel, Chabad, and other Jewish organizations across our community to hear concerns and suggestions on improving the campus climate.
• Inclusive scheduling and event planning resources. In December 2024, Harvard launched a webpage to provide information and guidance for planning events and programs with inclusion in mind. The webpage includes a multifaith calendar, a glossary of religious observances, and suggestions for inclusive catering. It also provides links to Harvard Divinity School webpages with more detailed information.
• Mental health resources. The University also secured additional trauma-informed counseling resources through Harvard Counseling and Mental Health Services, prioritizing awareness of and access to its mental health and counseling resources, including the 24/7 CAMHS Cares line and in-person and virtual counseling support offerings. In January 2024, Harvard University Health Services removed visit limits for outpatient mental health care and medical consultations under Harvard’s student health insurance plan.
• Community support sessions. Harvard has organized community support sessions led by the counseling team and Harvard’s chaplains, which comprise more than 30 faith leaders representing Judaism and other religions.
• Resources in Times of Crisis. Harvard launched a new support and resources website, Resources in Times of Crisis, to provide community members with a central hub of resources for personal safety, online safety, and mental health and community support.
• Engagement with Sidechat. Harvard engaged with the leadership of Sidechat, a social media app that allows college students to post anonymously. Though Harvard has no relationship to Sidechat, the University asked the app to strictly enforce its content-moderation policies.
• Jewish student representation. The University has clarified that its inclusion and belonging efforts must reach all members of our community and has ensured that its “Belonging Student Leadership Council” includes Jewish student representation.

Harvard and its Schools are implementing new programming and initiatives to foster and enhance respectful and constructive dialogue and civil discourse and promote an academic culture where diverse perspectives can be respectfully explored, challenged, and developed. Examples include:

• Pluralism Hub. Harvard is actively exploring the creation of a major initiative to promote viewpoint diversity.

• President’s Building Bridges Fund. Based on the preliminary recommendations of the Task Force, the President’s Building Bridges Fund was launched in Fall 2024, with the first grants awarded to student-led projects in February 2025 to promote a culture at Harvard that fosters community among affinity groups and encourages constructive dialogue on interfaith and/or intercultural issues. The projects funded are focused on building community across different faiths, cultures, and backgrounds and provide unique opportunities for students to engage in dialogue on complex issues and topics outside of the classroom setting.
• Intellectual Vitality Initiative. Harvard College has continued to advance its Intellectual Vitality Initiative, an effort focused on promoting respectful dialogue, open and rigorous inquiry, and thoughtful listening through a series of events, programs, and curriculum offerings. Along with a new website to increase awareness, additional efforts include sponsoring civil disagreement fellowships for House tutors and working lessons about civil disagreement into the College’s Expository Writing class. Additionally, members of the College class of 2028 completed the Perspectives Program, which teaches students to engage in dialogue across differences.
• Intellectual Vitality and Free Expression Student Summit. In January 2024, Harvard College and PEN America hosted the Intellectual Vitality and Free Expression Student Summit aimed at fostering open, productive communication.
• Open Minds in Dialogue conference. In October 2024, the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, along with the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning, hosted the “Open Minds in Dialogue” conference focusing on challenges to free inquiry and how best to foster open, rigorous conversations in academic settings.
• Fellowship in Values Engagement. As of spring 2024, the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics began engaging in a Center-wide effort to expand its longstanding work on civil discourse, including a new Fellowship in Values Engagement. The Fellowship works with resident tutors to foster intellectual vitality by promoting ethical reflection and a culture of civil disagreement in undergraduate community life.
• School-based initiatives. In October 2024, the University adopted its Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue principles to “reinforce the free exchange of ideas, rigorous discourse, and empathy for all members of our learning communities.” Since then, various Schools at Harvard have launched or enhanced programming and initiatives around respectful and constructive dialogue and civil discourse.
  • Following the work of its Candid and Constructive Conversations Working Group, Harvard Kennedy School is implementing recommendations on building a stronger culture of engagement, including through new training modules on civil discourse and modeling difficult conversations.
  • As a continuation of work over the last several years, Harvard Law School has developed and shared best practices for productive classroom discussion, built difficult conversation modules into first-year student orientation, piloted a negotiation requirement for graduation, and adopted rules that protect classroom discussion to ensure students can share views freely and openly.
• Reviewing admissions processes: In addition to considering for a wide variety of viewpoints, Deans will work with their admissions teams to review how their respective admissions processes currently evaluate and value candidates’ demonstrated abilities to engage constructively with different perspectives, show empathy, and participate in civil discourse. These reviews will identify any opportunities to further strengthen considerations by ensuring that relevant criteria are integrated within each School’s comprehensive admissions framework. For example, in August 2024, Harvard College updated the Class of 2029 application to ask a question about a time applicants “strongly disagreed with someone.” The prompt also asks students “How did you communicate or engage with this person? And “What did you learn from this experience?”