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What Future Can Harvard’s Jewish Students Expect?
With the recent resolution of the Title VI complaint filed by Students Against Antisemitism, Harvard University has taken a significant step toward ensuring that its Jewish and Israeli students feel safe, welcome, and valued on campus. This moment represents a turning point, not just for Harvard but for higher education institutions grappling with how to create inclusive spaces for Jewish students in the face of rising antisemitism. The question now is: What does the future hold for Jewish students at Harvard?
At the University of Vermont (UVM), where a similar complaint was resolved in 2023, we’ve witnessed firsthand how institutional commitments can translate into tangible improvements for Jewish life on campus. Policy updates, increased accountability, and public discourse have turned words into action and provided an improved campus climate, setting a powerful example for other universities, including Harvard.
A Safer and More Inclusive Campus Environment
One of the commitments from Harvard’s settlement is the incorporation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism into its policies. This definition can provide clarity in identifying and addressing antisemitic behavior, ensuring that Jewish and Israeli students’ experiences are taken seriously. While this has been adopted at the Vermont state level via Executive Order, there is no tangible working definition of antisemitism at UVM. Instead antisemitism is treated the same as anti-Asian, anti-Arab, and marginalized community bias and harassment.
At UVM, similar steps have been transformative. For instance, UVM reviewed and revised its policies to include descriptions of discrimination specific to the university environment, ensuring consistency with Title VI. These updates clarified the university’s response to incidents of national origin harassment based on shared ancestry, including antisemitism. These changes, alongside robust enforcement, particularly at the conclusion of last spring, contributed to a notable decrease in antisemitic incidents on campus—from 74 last year to roughly 10 this past semester. These rates are roughly in-line with pre-October 7th reporting and reporting from Jewish and other marginalized communities on our campus.
Fostering Dialogue and Understanding
Harvard’s promise to host annual academic symposia on antisemitism, including its manifestations on college campuses, echoes initiatives we’ve witnessed and participated in at UVM. Public panels and workshops have created opportunities for students, faculty, and community members to engage in meaningful conversations about antisemitism and Jewish identity. This fall the university held a symposium about Israel and Palestine. On January 23rd, the Leonard and Carolyn Miller Holocaust Studies Center will be hosting Harvard’s own, Derek Penslar, for a lecture titled, “When Critique Becomes Hateful: Defining Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism.”
I have been fortunate to work on this campus for over a decade. Before Title VI, I could not recall a university sponsored lecture or program about antisemitism (outside of Jewish Studies & Holocaust Studies). Afterwards, there have been many. Title VI opened the door for the university to be compelled to act and engage in public dialogue around controversial issues to give students the space to find their own relationship and connection to these topics. At UVM, these efforts were supplemented by a thorough review of the university’s Campus Climate Survey to identify additional actions needed to improve the campus environment. Such comprehensive inclusive excellence approaches foster empathy, dismantle harmful stereotypes, and build a culture of inclusion. Harvard and UVM still have a long way to go toward fostering a better environment for Jewish and Israeli students, but this is a positive step in the right direction.
Accountability and Oversight
Harvard’s commitment to annual public reporting on its responses to discrimination and harassment mirrors UVM’s agreement to submit case files of antisemitism complaints to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). UVM is still required to submit a full review of how they responded to antisemitism to the OCR at the end of each academic year. This level of transparency ensures that institutions remain accountable for their commitments and that responses to incidents are both timely and thorough. UVM’s creation of clear protocols outlining the roles and responsibilities of key offices, such as the Equal Opportunity (AAEO) Office and Bias Response Team, further demonstrates how organizational clarity can improve institutional responses.
Strengthening Community and Identity
For many Jewish students, Zionism is an integral part of their identity. Harvard’s recognition of this connection and its commitment to protecting students from discrimination based on their beliefs mirrors UVM’s actions. UVM has taken proactive steps, including issuing public statements reaffirming its commitment to addressing discrimination, including antisemitism, within 30 days of signing its agreement and as part of its annual anti-discrimination statement. Such actions create an environment where Jewish students feel seen, supported, and empowered to embrace their identities.
I’ve learned over the years of engaging with this issue that free speech is free, but is has consequences. It was repugnant when a student leaders in 2021 expelled Zionists from a sexual assault survivor support group or tweeted vulgarity about Jewish women in 2019 from a university-sponsored student club account. However, it still qualified as free speech. Unless a threat is specific to time, place and manner, it is still protected speech. This can be incredibly difficult for students as they see their peers sharing antisemitic memes, social media posts decrying Zionism, or broad statements applying Israeli policy to every one of its Jewish citizens. This isn’t easy, nor is it necessarily right, but that’s one of the critical reasons Hillel is here; to help students navigate the complexity of these days informed by their Jewish values. The Harvard Hillel and ours are vital university partners in shaping a safe and supportive campus life for all.
Comprehensive Training and Education
Both universities have emphasized the importance of training in their agreements. Harvard’s focus on educating staff and students about antisemitism aligns with UVM’s approach of training senior leadership, staff, and students on Title VI’s prohibition against harassment based on national origin and shared ancestry. At UVM, this training has equipped the campus community to recognize and respond to antisemitism effectively, fostering a sense of safety and belonging among Jewish students. I have also heard that UVM is exploring new training modules that more fully represent the diversity of harassment and bias that Jewish students can face on campus. More education means a better response and its incumbent on every faculty, staff, and administrator to support all students when the report bias and harassment based on their identity.
Looking Ahead
The commitments outlined in Harvard’s settlement are more than promises; they are an opportunity to build a future where Jewish students can thrive. At UVM, we’ve seen how hard work and accountability can turn aspirations into reality and a better lived experience for our Jewish students. Our campus is now a place where Jewish students feel safe, empowered, and inspired to grow. Even as antisemitism grew to untenable levels last year, UVM today is a great place to be Jewish and live a rich Jewish life of learning, culture, and exploration.
Slowly but surely we are becoming a destination school in the northeast for Jewish families because our university publicly and tangibly supports a thriving environment for Jewish life and learning in our community. Harvard has the potential to achieve the same—to become a place where Jewish students can engage deeply with their heritage, confront antisemitism with confidence, and forge connections that last a lifetime to make the world a better place.
As Jewish life at UVM continues to flourish, we invite Harvard to join us in demonstrating what’s possible when universities commit to creating inclusive, vibrant communities for Jewish students. By adopting and implementing robust measures, we can envision a future where all kinds of Jewish life on campus are not just protected but celebrated.
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