Harvard University campus on May 24, 2025, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo: Zhu Ziyu/VCG via Reuters Connect

Harvard University faculty members and staff have issued an open letter expressing solidarity with Jewish and Israeli students, arguing that the community’s experiences with antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias have simmered on campus amid a broader debate over the federal government’s civil rights investigation into the university.

The letter, signed by more than 170 faculty and staff, comes after another group of Harvard faculty publicly criticized the US Department of Justice’s Title VI lawsuit against the university, which alleges Harvard failed to adequately protect Jewish and Israeli students from discrimination and harassment. Those faculty members argued the federal government was “weaponizing antisemitism” in its legal challenge.

The newly released letter contends that, regardless of disagreements over the lawsuit itself, dismissing reports from Jewish and Israeli students ignores documented incidents that have affected their ability to participate fully in campus life.

“We understand why colleagues question the merits and motives of the Title VI lawsuit,” the authors wrote, “but one should not turn a blind eye to the fact that many Jewish and Israeli students have suffered harassment and discrimination over the last few years, degrading their Harvard experience.”

The faculty members point to findings from Harvard’s Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, as well as statements by Harvard President Alan Garber acknowledging problems on campus. The letter cites several examples, including allegations that gay Jewish students were excluded from LGBTQ+ organizations after refusing to renounce Zionism, an Israeli undergraduate allegedly asked to leave a classroom because classmates were uncomfortable with her nationality, and a Jewish student who experienced antisemitic harassment on social media.

The authors argue that although conditions have improved since the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, many Jewish and Israeli students still conceal their identities out of fear of discrimination — covering kippot with baseball caps, tucking Star of David necklaces beneath clothing, or removing Jewish-sounding names and activities from résumés.

The letter concludes with a direct message to affected students: “We see you. We hear you. We will continue to stand with you and stand up for you.”

Signatories represent Harvard Medical School, Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Graduate School of Education, the Divinity School and several affiliated teaching hospitals.

The Justice Department filed its lawsuit against Harvard earlier this year under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin at institutions receiving federal funding. Federal officials allege the university failed to adequately respond to repeated incidents of antisemitic harassment following the Oct. 7 attack and the subsequent war in Gaza, and did not consistently enforce its own conduct policies.

During a Congressional hearing in Jan. 2024, former Harvard President Claudine Gay said that whether calls to genocide Jews violate the university’s conduct code depends on the “context” in which the threats are made. The remark, widely criticized as reflecting indifference to Jewish safety, sparked outrage that helped precipitate Gay’s departure from the presidency.

In 2025, Harvard released a 223-page report on Jewish community members’ experiences since Oct. 7, recommending “zero tolerance” of classroom disruption, tighter approval of campus demonstrations, and stricter enforcement of conduct rules — aimed at ensuring students’ “freedom from discrimination” and ability to “sanction or terminate recognition for student organizations that exclude or harass Jewish or Israeli students.”

The letter underscores continuing divisions at Harvard: some faculty view federal intervention as politically motivated, while others say addressing antisemitism on campus is necessary regardless of the legal dispute.