For true inclusion and belonging, Harvard must partner with impacted community members

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For true inclusion and belonging, Harvard must partner with impacted community members

President Alan Garber and the Harvard Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

On Wednesday, October 16, Harvard Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (ODEIB) announced a closed session for staff to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia, to be held less than a week later, with a October 17 registration deadline. There was no attempt to consult key stakeholders about the agenda, selection of vendors, or any other details of the event. Additionally, this event is not co-sponsored by any Muslim, Palestinian, or Jewish groups on campus, of which many exist, nor does it appear that members from these communities were consulted in its creation or in the choice of speakers.

The trainings at Harvard University feature the Shema project, which partners with the controversial Anti-Defamation League, and whose materials have conflated Judaism with Zionism. The training was advertised as featuring a “Muslim/Arab” speaker, conflating Muslim and Arab identities. These conflations harmfully erase the perspectives of Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian, and many other community members.

In Northampton last year, over 500 community members signed a petition expressing similar concerns prior to a Project Shema training. They were unable to stop the event, at which the trainer presented several misleading, tendentious and false claims.

A group of diverse Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Palestinian, and Arab faculty at Harvard requested that the trainings be canceled. We appreciate the urgent need to address equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging on campus. Yet efforts which disregard the perspectives of impacted community members will not achieve this aim.

We urge members of the Harvard community, including students, faculty, staff and alumni to sign the following petition to urge President Garber and the ODEIB to meaningfully partner with impacted community members in order to foster true equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging. Nothing about us without us.

(Signatories of this letter will be shared with the institution but NOT listed publicly on the internet. However, if signatories fear retaliation from the institution, we have created an “Anonymous” option, so that the institution will not see their names.)

Petition by

test test

Boston, Massachusetts

To: President Alan Garber and the Harvard Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
From: [Your Name]

We, the undersigned members of the Harvard community, urge the university to meaningfully engage with impacted community members to truly address antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Arab racism on campus. “Nothing about us without us” is a core principle of the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Current efforts to foster these values must include the voices of Palestinian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim members of the Harvard faculty and staff.

A diverse group of Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Palestinian, and Arab faculty requested that the trainings at Harvard University, featuring the divisive Shema project, which were planned for the week of October 21, 2024, and announced with less than a week’s notice, be canceled because the organization’s training materials conflate Judaism with Zionism (1).

This conflation is both inaccurate and harmfully erases the perspectives of Jewish, Palestinian, Muslim, and many other community members. A similar training in Northampton last year was canceled after over 500 community members signed a petition expressing similar concerns (2). The University has not responded to these requests, in violation of DEIB principles.

In the past year, students and faculty at Harvard have experienced doxxing, violent threats, racist hate speech, and harassment. Addressing these issues is more urgent than ever. Yet the University has failed to acknowledge the suffering of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community members or to take steps to meaningfully protect them, include them, or to protect scholarship regarding Palestine at Harvard.

Efforts which pit marginalized communities against each other will not achieve inclusivity. We urge Harvard to honor the requests of marginalized and minoritized community members, to end the relationship with the Shema project and commit to engage with impacted communities toward developing a process to truly foster equity, inclusion, and belonging on campus and address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinian racism in an engaged fashion, which contextualizes them within frameworks of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

1. https://florida.adl.org/resources-from-adl-southern-div-project-shema-webinar/
2. https://www.gazettenet.com/JVP-supports-petition-to-cancel-Project-Shema-training-56774961