Harvard Task Forces Find Jewish, Muslim Students Were Discriminated

Two Harvard University Assignments forces looked at on combating anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim and anti-Arab prejudice released preliminary recommendations on Wednesday, uncovering discrimination faced by Muslim and Jewish students.

The Presidential Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Bias and the Presidential Task Force on Combating Anti-Semitism found Jewish and Muslim members of the Harvard community saying they experienced “a state of uncertainty, abandonment, threat, and isolation , and a widespread climate of intolerance” and faced “rejection, harassment and intimidation”.

“People of color from other groups and identities – often Black and South Asian students – have shared experiences of racism and hate because they were allies or because they were misidentified as Arab, Muslim or Palestinian,” the anti-racism task force said. Muslims and Palestinians. Read the Anti-Arab Bias Preliminary Recommendations.

“Muslim women who wear the hijab and pro-Palestinian students who wear keffiyehs spoke of facing verbal harassment, being called ‘terrorists’ and even being spat on,” the recommendations continued.

On the other hand, the recommendations of the working group on anti-Semitism stated that Israeli students faced “terrible” conditions.

“They have often been targets of derision and social exclusion,” the recommendations say. “Discrimination, intimidation or harassment based on an individual’s Israeli nationality is a serious violation of University policy and, beginning immediately, must be publicly condemned and subject to substantial disciplinary action.”

Tensions between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel factions on American college campuses have erupted amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Pro-Palestinian protesters on campuses faced accusations of anti-Semitism, which they rejected.

The Hill reached out to Harvard University.

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