Rowing on the Charles River near Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts April 15, 2025. Charles Krupa/AP Closed subtitles
WASHINGTON - Harvard University promises to review its academic and admissions policies in response to a pair of internal reports on anti-Semitism and anti-Arab biases and commissioned the Ivy League campus after the Pro-Palestinian protests last spring.
Harvard released a report on Tuesday, while the university also fought against the Trump administration’s demands to limit campus activism – a reform administration said it was essential to eradicate campus anti-Semitism. The government has frozen $2.2 billion in federal funds, and Harvard has filed a lawsuit in the conflict that is closely watched in higher education.
Harvard President Alan Garber said in a campus message that Harvard has made “necessary changes and fundamental progress” over the past year but has committed to further action.
"We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the University is welcomed, entertained and competitive in the spirit of seeking truth," Garber wrote.
Garber convened two groups to anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus last year and issued the initial recommendations last June. The final report totaled more than 500 pages, including dozens of suggested changes.
Harvard said it will start implementing at least some recommendations and may update the admission, recruitment and discipline system.
U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, said Harvard’s internal report shows it tolerate anti-Semitism.
"The Harvard president said schools won't comply with paranoia, but that's exactly what the school's innocent leadership does," said Wahlberg, a Republican of Michigan.
Harvard said in the Action and Commitment list that it will review the enrollment process to ensure that applicants “constructively engage, demonstrate empathy and participate in civil discourse ability to be assessed”.
It points to a recently added application question asking students for a while they strongly disagree with someone. The anti-Semitism task force called for such doubts, saying Harvard should reject people with biased history and unfavorably look at "animous, ridiculed or contemptuous exhibitions."
Still, it seems that it hasn't met the Trump administration's requirement for admissions, which calls on Harvard to end all preferences to "based on race, color, nationality or its agent" and implement a "benefit" policy by August. The Supreme Court rejected the use of race in college admissions, but many universities focus on including student family income and geography to bring a wide variety of classes to campus.
In response to complaints about Harvard’s instructions that have become too politicized and anti-Israel, the university said it will work to keep professors “excellent” new standards. The university said the dean will ensure that teachers promote knowledge openness and avoid endorsement of political stances.
Courses and courses will also be reviewed to reflect these standards.
Other changes include the required anti-Semitism training for students and faculty, as well as an expanded academic product for Hebrew, Jewish, Arabic and Islamic studies. Harvard will invest money in research projects on anti-Semitism, as well as a historical overview of Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians.
Garber said in his message that Harvard will accelerate campus-wide efforts to promote diversity of perspectives, although he did not elaborate. Diversity of perspectives is one of the biggest concerns at the White House, which requires Harvard to hire external auditors to ensure that student groups and each academic department represent a wide variety of perspectives.
Harvard was the first university to openly resist the Trump administration as it used its holdings of federal funds to impose a political agenda.
The government believes that universities have insufficient practices to examine anti-Semitism at campus protests last year. Garber said Harvard would not meet the requirements, saying it was a threat to academic freedom and autonomy of all universities.