Critics have slammed the task force set up by Harvard University in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war for a set of recommendations released in late June.
In the aftermath of the Israeli-Hamas war, the Ivy League university announced the creation of a task force focused on “combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bigotry and anti-Semitism” on campus. The task force released its preliminary recommendations in a report addressed to Interim President Alan M. Garber. A final report is expected to be released in the fall.
Experts have sharply criticized the preliminary findings of Harvard’s task force, saying the team created a “smokescreen” and a “DEI-obsessed” approach to combating the continued rise in anti-Semitism that is plaguing universities across the country.
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Harvard students took part in a demonstration in front of Harvard Law School in support of Palestinians. (Josh Reynolds for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Liora Rez, founder and executive director of StopAntisemitism, slammed the recommendation in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“They’re actually making things worse,” Rez said. “First of all, they’re unbalanced. On one hand, we have task forces that combat anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bigotry, on the other we have task forces that are solely focused on combating anti-Semitism. What about anti-Israel bigotry?”
Rez said the groups should have focused on anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bigotry, arguing that anti-Semitism on college campuses far outweighs anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bigotry.
“The task force was formed in response to a tsunami of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli activity on the Harvard campus,” she said. “No honest observer of the events can say that the type of bigotry that Jewish and Israeli students have experienced at Harvard — physical assaults, verbal and physical harassment, ridicule and public humiliation by peers, staff and professors, social media and online harassment, and the disruption of their very efforts to obtain the education they paid for — is unparalleled.”
“No honest observer of events can claim that there is anything comparable to the prejudice that Jewish and Israeli students experienced at Harvard…”
Liora Rez, executive director of Stop Anti-Semitism, slammed the recommendations of the Harvard University task force on “combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bigotry and anti-Semitism” on the campus. (Fox News Digital)
Rez slammed one of the task force’s recommendations, to fund a visiting professorship in Palestinian studies, as “ludicrous.”
“If this was a Babylon Bee headline, it couldn’t be any funnier,” she said. “Harvard admits faculty discriminated against Jewish and Israeli students.”
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The founder of StopAntisemitism said recommendations to combat anti-Semitism pale in comparison to those against anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslims.
She added that rather than combating anti-Semitism on campus, the task force is fueling it.
“Meanwhile, the recommendations to protect Jews and Israelis are general, such as taking action and increasing ‘anti-harassment’ training. What does this mean?” Rez said. “The task force’s recommendations only continue Harvard’s shameful record of not combating anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bigotry, but rather encouraging it.”
An Israeli flag has been planted on the Harvard Divinity School lawn as protests continue on campus. (Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
William Jacobson, founder of the Equal Protection Project and a law professor at Cornell University, told Fox News Digital that this is further evidence that Harvard is failing in its attempt to lead “both sides” in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“Harvard tries to portray issues on campus as ‘both sides,’ but in reality, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic students were the aggressors,” he said. “Jewish and pro-Israel students did not hold rallies calling for the destruction of Palestinians or using anti-Muslim rhetoric. Almost everything was headed in one direction, but you wouldn’t know that from the report.”
Jacobson alleged that the Ivy League school was “glorifying anti-Semitism in the name of fighting ‘Islamophobia.'”
“We’ve seen a similar ‘both sides’ approach at Cornell, where I teach law, and at many other universities. It’s time for university administrations to be honest about the source of the problem,” he said. “It’s not ‘Islamophobia’ to acknowledge that the Jew-hatred that inspires and motivates Islamist groups like Hamas has seeped onto university campuses under the guise of ‘pro-Palestinian’ activism.”
“The obsession with DEI that is sweeping especially elite college campuses is like mother’s milk for anti-Semitic and anti-Israel movements, categorizing Jews as white oppressors and stoking racial hostility under the banner of decolonization,” Jacobson said.
Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson blasted Harvard for setting up an unbalanced task force. (Fox News)
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“Instead of releasing meaningless task force reports, universities should begin dismantling their DEI bureaucracies and programs and refocus on respecting each student as an individual, not as a proxy for a racial, ethnic or religious identity group,” he added.
Anti-Israel protesters in Harvard Yard. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The recommendations focused on 13 areas.
“As a university, we should focus on what we do best: researching, teaching and enabling each other to have serious, substantive and constructive dialogue on all issues,” said Asim Ijaz Khwaja, co-chair of the Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab and Anti-Palestinian Bigotry. Harvard Gazette“In many ways, what we’re responding to is both the voices we’re hearing from the community and what we feel universities can and should actually do effectively, which is to create safe and supportive spaces to learn, teach and grow.”
Harvard Law School campus directional arrows in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The recommendations focused on “creating safe environments” by expanding counseling and protective services.
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“While Palestinians face the same Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism as other groups, they also face unique challenges that arise from their position as Palestinians from diverse religious backgrounds and seeking statehood,” Wafai Fawzi told the magazine. “Highlighting anti-Palestinian bias will also help to ensure inclusion of the majority of voices in our community who consider themselves allies of Palestinian aspirations, including South Asians, African Americans, whites, and other groups.”
Dunster House on the Harvard University campus as seen across the Charles River in Allston, Massachusetts on February 17, 2024. (Erika Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The task force also addressed disciplinary measures and promoting “constructive dialogue.”
“Instructor training and student orientation programs need to make clear the difference between a healthy, constructive, challenging classroom climate and a harmful, threatening classroom climate,” task force co-chair Derek Pensler told the magazine. “Guidelines for extracurricular organizations and residence halls should emphasize the importance of inclusivity, no matter how contentious the conversations within them.”
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Harvard University is facing backlash following a widely publicized anti-Semitism and plagiarism controversy.
Then-President Claudine Gay’s congressional testimony marked the start of intense criticism of Harvard’s leadership for its reluctance to adequately condemn anti-Semitism.
Hundreds of Harvard faculty sign letter condemning university leadership’s callous response to Hamas’ “war crimes”
The scandal worsened when Gay was accused of plagiarism in an academic paper.
Dozens Plagiarism allegationsIn a letter to Harvard officials, Gay said he would step down as president but return to serve on the Harvard faculty.
Harvard University President Alan Gerber attends the 2014 commencement ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 29, 2014. (Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
Harvard’s chief academic officer, President Alan M. Garber, an economist and physician, took the helm of the prestigious university in January.
The group comes despite efforts by universities to create anti-Semitism task forces. Troubled by resignation and internal complaints.
Amid the turmoil, major donors to the school withdrew their donations.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Harvard University for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Timothy Nerozzi contributed to this report.
