Harvard – Islamic Research and Information Center (IRIC) https://iric.org Sat, 06 Apr 2024 12:18:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.14 https://iric.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/iric-favicon.png Harvard – Islamic Research and Information Center (IRIC) https://iric.org 32 32 Harvard University names task force members in efforts to combat antisemitism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias https://iric.org/harvard-university-names-task-force-members-in-efforts-to-combat-antisemitism-anti-arab-and-anti-muslim-bias/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harvard-university-names-task-force-members-in-efforts-to-combat-antisemitism-anti-arab-and-anti-muslim-bias https://iric.org/harvard-university-names-task-force-members-in-efforts-to-combat-antisemitism-anti-arab-and-anti-muslim-bias/#respond Wed, 20 Mar 2024 14:32:57 +0000 https://iric.org/?p=36068 “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.

Harvard University names task force members in efforts to combat antisemitism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias
Former Harvard University President, Dr. Claudine Gay testified at the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing on the rise in antisemitism on college campuses in December

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.

Harvard University names task force members in efforts to combat antisemitism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias
Gay, Harvard’s shortest-serving president, was ousted over her failed reaction to antisemitism on the college campus in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

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

]]> https://iric.org/harvard-university-names-task-force-members-in-efforts-to-combat-antisemitism-anti-arab-and-anti-muslim-bias/feed/ 0 Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters (CSoC) https://iric.org/center-for-the-study-of-conversion-and-inter-religious-encounters-csoc/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=center-for-the-study-of-conversion-and-inter-religious-encounters-csoc https://iric.org/center-for-the-study-of-conversion-and-inter-religious-encounters-csoc/#respond Sun, 27 Mar 2022 07:04:54 +0000 https://demo.iric.org/?p=18427 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

CSoC was founded by Prof. Haim Hames in 2012 as an inter-university I-CORE (Israeli Centers of Research Excellence) project. In 2018, CSoC became a BGU center in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and has since been led by Prof. Effie Shoham-Steiner, with a steering committee of seven senior faculty members. Currently, Prof. Daniella Talmon-Heller serves as director.

Each academic year highlights a particular theme within the study of religion. The Center supports a cohort of promising younger fellows – outstanding postdoc and PhD candidates – whose research relates to this theme. The center holds weekly seminars and reading groups, multiple book events, international workshops and field trips. It has invited guest lectures and research fellows from leading universities worldwide. Within BGU, the center’s seminars and conferences serve as a hub for the many scholars and graduate students who are interested in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and continues to draw in former-fellows, scholars from other institutions and guests from the community.

The center is proud to have nurtured 20 postdoctoral Israeli and international fellows and 10 PhD candidates, not only with stipends, but also with an intellectually stimulating atmosphere and opportunities for academic entrepreneurship and international collaborations. Some of our fellows have already achieved tenure track position (Hebrew U), fellowships in prestigious post-doctoral programs (at Harvard, Yale and Penn.), nominations for prestigious awards and the publication of articles and monographs in leading academic presses.

In 2020-2021, CSoC’s seminars were devoted to examining a wide range of issues related to materiality in the three Abrahamic Religions. Due to Covid constraints, most meetings were held on zoom, an arrangement that enabled the invitation of world-renowned scholars from afar and the participation of wider audiences. The Center hosted two successful international virtual conferences, in collaboration with the Department of Middle East Studies at BGU and with the Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford University, and six international book launches. Next year’s program – Rethinking Center and Periphery – will also include workshops on writing, outreach to the public via BGU’s External Studies programs and exchanges with Fordham University NYC, and Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz.

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