GVPT Professor Shibley Telhami Co-Chairs Report on Antisemitism and Islamophobia

The University of Maryland's Joint Task Force on Antisemitism and Islamophobia, co-chaired by Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, and Professor Maxine Grossman, Director of the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies, has released its latest report.

Established by the University Senate and the University President, the Joint Task Force (JTF) comprises 26 diverse members representing students, faculty, and staff.

The JTF highlights that "the focus on our campus and the policies and practices of the University of Maryland in particular has provided the JTF with a clarifying perspective, one shaped by our awareness of the diversity of the UMD community. Home to approximately 6,000 Jewish undergraduates and 4,500 Muslim undergraduates—as well as many Arab students who are not Muslim and Israeli students who are not Jewish—the UMD campus bears a responsibility to foster a safe and welcoming environment for learning and student development. This diversity is reflected in the faculty, staff, graduate students, and other community members who are Arab, Israeli, Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian, all of whom seek a space that is safe for religious, ethnic, and cultural minorities while also supporting free speech and a pluralistic outlook."

In this spirit, the report further notes: "Our Task Force has appreciated the dual aim of understanding the campus climate for both Muslims and Jews. Considering both communities in dialogue with one another has shed greater light on each and generated insights unlikely to emerge under more limited circumstances. It has especially revealed the extent to which the issues are inevitably interconnected, and the need for our campus to assure that defending the rights of one community does not come at the expense of another".

In assessing the existing university climate and making ten recommendations for improvement, the task force leaned heavily on the university's principal educational mission, guided by defending free speech, assuring the safety and security of all university community members equally, and advancing a culture of dialogue and mutual understanding.

The full report can be found here.

Published on Wed, 01/08/2025 - 13:25