Harvard antisemitism has become less overt, more 'insidious,' faculty claim in open letter

A group of 170 Jewish and non-Jewish Harvard faculty members have published an open letter asserting that overt antisemitism has shifted underground, becoming more "insidious." This declaration comes after two significant events: the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services initiated Title VI lawsuits, and a Harvard internal report acknowledged pervasive bias and intimidation faced by Jewish students.

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We believe that the situation has improved to some extent recently, but challenges remain.

Despite Harvard's public statements on May 20, 2026, claiming "substantive, proactive steps" to address antisemitism and asserting its efforts "demonstrate the very opposite of deliberate indifference," the faculty letter argues that challenges persist. The professors and staff noted that Jewish and Israeli individuals at Harvard have reported hiding their identities over the past year. Examples include wearing baseball caps over kippot, tucking in Stars of David, and removing Jewish-sounding information from resumes.

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Over the past year, Jews and Israelis at Harvard have reported hiding their identity, including by wearing a baseball cap over their kippot, tucking in their Star of David, and scrubbing Jewish-sounding names or activities from their resumes.

The letter references student accounts detailed in the 300-page Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias report. These accounts include an instructor telling an Israeli undergraduate to leave a classroom due to discomfort among other students, and a Jewish undergraduate being subjected to a derogatory comment about her appearance. "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 letter states.

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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.

Signatories Dr. Mark C. Poznansky and Dr. Jacqueline A. Hart wrote in The Free Press that when hate becomes quiet on campus, it can either be eliminated or morph into more insidious forms. "What we, as Jewish and Israeli faculty, staff, and students at Harvard University, have witnessed over the past year appears to be th[e latter]," they stated, emphasizing the ongoing, albeit less overt, struggle.

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When hate turns quiet on campus, it can mean one of two things: First, that the hate has been eliminated from the university, or second, that it has morphed into more insidious forms.