Update on new committees to support campus communities

Members have been appointed and work is progressing on two new Stanford committees established to develop recommendations for combating antisemitism and anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim bias on campus, and to support communities on campus that have been deeply affected by the Israel-Hamas war.

The Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities Committee, and the Antisemitism, Bias, and Communication Subcommittee of the university’s Jewish Advisory Committee, have begun meeting and will be conducting listening sessions early in the new year to inform their deliberations.

The two committees are actively meeting to set their agendas. Among the upcoming efforts of the Antisemitism, Bias, and Communication Subcommittee will be a series of listening sessions for the first few weeks of winter quarter.

The listening sessions, some in person and some Zoom-based, will solicit input from faculty, staff, students, alumni, and parents, with additional sessions for Israeli members of the Stanford community. There also will be opportunities for 1:1 meetings and online submissions for those who cannot make the scheduled meetings or wish to attend but not speak.

“We are working toward a set of concrete short, medium, and long-term goals that can help safeguard our students and educate the community,” said Larry Diamond, one of the co-chairs of the committee, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

The Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities Committee has held initial and exploratory sessions and has more planned for the coming weeks.

“We are already finding that our colleagues have a great deal of pain to share, and so far we have spoken to a tiny proportion of the key stakeholders,” said co-chair Alexander Key, associate professor of comparative literature in the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Committee memberships

The members of the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities Committee are:

• Co-chair Abiya Ahmed, director of The Markaz Resource Center and associate dean of students
• Co-chair Alexander Key, associate professor of comparative literature
• Shirin Sinnar, the William W. and Gertrude H. Saunders Professor of Law
• Natalie Jabbar, associate director of Stanford University’s Public Humanities Initiative
• Nadia Roumani, alumna and lecturer at the Stanford d.school
• Firas Abuzaid, alumnus, advisory board member for The Markaz Resource Center, and CTO/co-founder of Neo.Tax

Additional members may be added to the committee. To protect student privacy amid concerns about doxxing, the co-chairs of this committee have elected not to have student members sit formally on the committee, but the committee will consult extensively with students in its deliberations.

The members of the Antisemitism, Bias, and Communication Subcommittee are:

• Co-chair Larry Diamond, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution
• Co-chair Jeff Koseff, the William Alden Campbell and Martha Campbell Professor in the School of Engineering, professor of oceans, and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
• Co-chair Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper, associate dean in the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life
• Paul Brest, professor emeritus and former dean of Stanford Law School
• Emily Gurwitz, undergraduate student
• Rabbi Jessica Kirschner, executive director of Stanford Hillel and chaplain affiliate of the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life
• Emily Levine, associate professor of education
• Gabriella Smith, MD student
• Jeffrey Stone, alumnus and former trustee

The committee is currently in the process of securing Israeli members from the campus community, and they will be added to the membership page of the committee’s website.

One of the previously announced co-chairs of the committee, Ari Y Kelman, the Jim Joseph Professor in Education and Jewish Studies, recently informed university leadership that he was stepping down from the committee, despite having the full confidence of the president, provost, and committee membership. He will remain involved in an advisory capacity.

“I realized there were pockets of Stanford’s Jewish community that strongly opposed my leadership on the committee,” Kelman said. “They made their voices known. So, rather than continue, I felt it best to step aside.”

“I am deeply appreciative of Ari for his many contributions to the university, and I am grateful to the other members who are serving on both of the committees we have established,” said Stanford President Richard Saller. “As president, I will continue working to support the members of these committees, and to support an environment in which they can consult widely, hear many perspectives, and develop the thoughtful and well-informed recommendations that are needed to move our community forward.”

More information and updates

Information about the upcoming listening sessions and other periodic updates from each committee will be posted, when available, on the committees’ respective websites: https://mapcommittee.stanford.edu/ and https://abccommittee.stanford.edu/.