As part of its submission to the House Education and Workforce Committee on March 4, 2024,

Harvard University included an overview of its efforts to combat antisemitism. The overview is
provided below, reflecting some of the actions taken to date.

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In the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas, communities around the world
have seen a distressing increase in reports of antisemitic acts. At Harvard, and on many campuses,
students and others have felt the harmful effects of antisemitism. We are committed to protecting
our students and ensuring that they can pursue their academic goals at Harvard free from
harassment and discrimination. Accordingly, Harvard leaders have denounced antisemitism on our
campus and have made clear that the University will continue to take actions to combat
antisemitism in any form. Harvard is focused on safety and ensuring a sense of belonging for our
Jewish students – so that every member of our community is protected, embraced and valued, and
can thrive at Harvard.

Harvard continues to take action as a community to address and combat antisemitism through
efforts in these five key areas:
• First and foremost, student safety and support
• Updating and clarifying policies
• Providing multiple avenues for reporting and disciplinary processes to address violations
of policy, including harassment and threats
• Prioritizing respectful dialogue and civil discourse, particularly as part of an educational
community
• Listening to and learning with our Jewish community

We will continue to build on these efforts as part of our ongoing work.

Student Safety and Support

The safety and wellbeing of our students is our highest priority. Harvard has taken steps over the
last several months to strengthen security on campus, deter and denounce any potential acts that
threaten the safety of individual students, and connect students with the support they need.

• Campus security has been increased in important and potentially vulnerable University
spaces, including student residences.
• Harvard has periodically restricted access to Harvard Yard to limit outside disruptions to
our campus.
• Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) continues to work in close coordination
with local, state, and federal law enforcement to assess and respond to any potential or
actual threats to our community.
• HUPD has also increased its presence and patrols at locations and events where members
of Harvard’s Jewish community gather.
• Harvard engaged with senior leadership of Sidechat following reports of a disturbing rise
in antisemitic posts on the anonymous digital platform. As a result of this engagement,
Sidechat has limited access to the Harvard space on the platform to Harvard College
 students only, and Harvard was assured that Sidechat’s content moderation guidelines are
being strictly enforced.
• In response to student feedback, the University has secured additional trauma-informed
counseling resources through Harvard Counseling and Mental Health Services and has
prioritized awareness of and access to all of the University’s mental health and counseling
resources, including the 24/7 CAMHS Cares line, in-person and virtual counseling support
offerings, and a dedicated team specifically prepared to help students navigate these
resources.
• 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
several other religions.

Updating and Clarifying Policies

While the right to protest and dissent is a tenet of free expression, Harvard has made it clear that
disrupting University activities or preventing members of our community from exercising their
rights to learn, study, work, and live at Harvard will not be tolerated.

• President Garber, along with the Deans of all of Harvard’s Schools, announced new,
specific guidance on permitted protest and dissent activities derived from the longstanding
University-wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities. The guidance document
reinforced the values articulated in the University-wide Statement and emphasized that
exercising the right to protest must not disrupt the University’s core work and campus life.
That is why, for example, protests are prohibited in classrooms and dining halls.
• Harvard’s schools have continued to clarify and raise awareness of University and School
policies that ensure students, faculty, and staff can continue their learning, research, and
work free from harassment and discrimination and to engage in campus life unimpeded by
protests.
• Harvard leadership has made clear that it opposes calls for a policy of boycotting Israel and
its academic institutions. In the words of former President Bacow, responding to a 2022
editorial in The Harvard Crimson that had endorsed the Boycott, Divert, Sanction
movement, “targeting or boycotting a particular group because of disagreements over the
policies pursued by their governments is antithetical to what we stand for as a University,”
and “academic boycotts have absolutely no place at Harvard, regardless of who they
target.”

Providing Reporting and Discipline Processes

Harvard continues to take steps to ensure convenient, readily accessible ways to report and process
complaints of harassment and any other concerning act or behavior.

• The University maintains a 24/7 hotline to which community members can report incidents
anonymously.
• The University and Schools have made clear that violations of policies concerning protest
and dissent will be subject to disciplinary processes. Disruptions of University activities
will be accorded the same treatment regardless of the content of the demonstration.
 • HUPD and Harvard’s information security team, working with others at the University,
have processes in place to assess and, where appropriate, act upon reports of online
harassment.
• The University developed and posted the “Protecting Against Online Harassment” resource
guide to all students, faculty, and staff. This includes tools for helping recognize, report,
and take protective and curative steps against online harassment.
• Reports of antisemitic harassment, threats, and intimidation are taken seriously, and are
reviewed and addressed in accordance with School and University policies and practices
that are intended to combat bias and hate.

Prioritizing Respectful Dialogue and Civil Discourse

With renewed emphasis at the start of the spring semester, Harvard has pursued a series of efforts
across the University designed to bring our community together for respectful discussion and
debate on difficult, often controversial issues. This essential project is undertaken from the premise
that respectful dialogue and civil discourse are fundamental to Harvard’s mission as an institution
dedicated to discovery, understanding, and excellence in learning and that skills for participating
in difficult dialogues can be learned.

• Harvard began the spring semester with “Harvard Dialogues,” a week-long series of events,
forums, convenings, and activities aimed at modeling and facilitating discussion and
building community around and through robust and respectful debate. Events included the
first-ever PEN America Free Expression Student Summit; a community dialogue with
Harvard’s chaplains; and smaller gatherings for students, faculty, and staff to discuss and
develop skills around civil dialogue.
• Across Harvard’s Schools, numerous panels, forums, and events have been organized to
provide students with educational opportunities to explore the conflict in the Middle East.
• Harvard College continued its Intellectual Vitality Initiative, which includes sponsoring
civil disagreement fellowships for House tutors and working lessons about civil
disagreement into the College’s Expository Writing class.
• Harvard Kennedy School issued a detailed report of the HKS Candid and Constructive
Conversations Working Group, which gathered extensive data and made detailed
recommendations about how to build a stronger culture of engagement across differences.
• The Faculty of Arts of Science has announced an initiative on civil discourse, centered in
the undergraduate residences.
• The Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study in December convened a conference titled
“Political Speech, Free Speech and Hate Speech on Campus” and will soon hold a panel
titled “Institutional Neutrality in a Polarized World.”
• Harvard Business School has tasked working groups with exploring classroom climate and
how it can be changed to promote robust and respectful speech and debate.
• Harvard Law School is engaged in ongoing work that has occurred over several years. HLS
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 ensure that student remarks in the classroom will not
leave the classroom.
Listening to and Learning with Our Jewish Community

Harvard continues its work to ensure the voices of our Jewish community are heard and can
empower University leaders and other members of our community to take action – both to
eliminate antisemitism from our community and to ensure that all of our Jewish students feel
welcome and included.

• Harvard has organized, often in collaboration with Harvard Hillel, a range of community
spaces, both virtual and in-person, where Jewish and Israeli students connect. These spaces
provide opportunities for students to find, meet, engage with, and support others who share
their identities, life experiences, or desire to learn and reflect.
• Harvard has organized educational sessions on antisemitism for more than 200 faculty and
administrators who participate in disciplinary processes at every School. This educational
offering will be expanded to other members of the community.
• The individuals in each School who are points of contact for Harvard’s Nondiscrimination
and Anti-Bullying Policies and individuals who adjudicate complaints under those policies
across the University have also received training and resources on ways in which
antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments and behaviors might manifest on campus.
• Harvard has further clarified that its inclusion and belonging efforts must reach all
members of our community. The University’s “Belonging Student Leadership Council”
includes Jewish student representation. Harvard leaders have attended dinners at Harvard
Hillel, Chabad, and other Jewish organizations across our community and have met with
the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism to gain insights on best practices to track and
confront antisemitism on college campuses.

Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism

The actions described above will continue to be augmented by other steps undertaken by the
University, including those initiated and led by the Presidential Task Force on Combating
Antisemitism. On January 19, President Garber announced the creation of the task force and
charged this group with:

• Examining recent history and current manifestations of antisemitism;

• Identifying the root causes of, and contributing factors to, antisemitic behaviors on campus;
• Evaluating evidence regarding the characteristics and frequency of antisemitic behaviors;
and
• Recommending approaches to combat antisemitism and to mitigate its impact on campus.

President Garber has asked the task force to undertake broad outreach to seek the perspectives and
experiences of students, faculty, and staff to understand the many effects of antisemitism on our
community. The work of the task force will be intensive and is expected to take several months to
complete. However, the task force has been asked to send recommendations to University and
School leadership on a rolling basis, so that consideration and implementation of interventions and
initiatives can occur without unnecessary delay and the community can be kept apprised of the
progress of this important work.