“We must do much more to bridge the fissures that have weakened our sense of community”

The members of the Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Presidential Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Bias were announced Sunday by interim President Alan M. Garber. Consisting of faculty and students from across Schools, disciplines, and backgrounds, the task forces will start their work immediately.

“We must do much more to bridge the fissures that have weakened our sense of community, and the task forces, which have the full support of the University, will be critical to our success,” Garber said in a message to the Harvard community.

Task force members will work in the coming months to identify causes and factors of behaviors that contribute to antisemitism and anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias at Harvard. They will also collect data and evaluate evidence related to the frequency and tenor of these behaviors, and make recommendations on how to combat their impact on campus.

Ongoing guidance from the co-chairs and members of the task forces will help inform actionable areas of improvement and the work will culminate with recommendations for the president. The range of recommendations may include elements relating to student life, wellbeing and community support and resources, School and University policies, education, and training, as well as other areas related to the climate on campus.

Each task force will be led by faculty co-chairs. The Presidential Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Bias will be led by Ali Asani, Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures; Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development at Harvard Kennedy School; and Wafaie Fawzi, Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Sciences and a professor of nutrition, epidemiology, and global health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Jared Ellias, Scott C. Collins Professor of Law, will take over as co-chair of the Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism for Raffaella Sadun, Charles E. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who will conclude her service. Ellias will join Derek Penslar, William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who was previously announced as co-chair.

Continue reading at: The Harvard Gazette