As at many universities across the country, the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel and Israel’s military response have profoundly impacted the Stanford community and highlighted longstanding concerns.

Two reports from separate committees – one from the Subcommittee on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias and another from the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities Committee – reveal the extent of these effects on Stanford students, staff, and faculty as well as parents and alumni.

Each committee examined a wide range of issues and distinct experiences within their communities and identified numerous ways to address biases while enhancing life on campus for everyone. The committees make a wide variety of recommendations on topics ranging from campus policies and procedures to norms around campus expression, to academic infrastructure and educational offerings.

The reports, delivered to the president and provost on May 31, are each around 150 pages in length and are based on hundreds of hours the committees spent listening to experiences and concerns of Stanford community members.

“I have accepted these reports with thanks to the committee members, who invested hundreds of hours investigating and articulating these issues, and to the many people across the Stanford community with whom the committees spoke,” said Stanford President Richard Saller.

“We are committed to a campus climate at Stanford that is welcoming to individuals of all backgrounds, faiths, nationalities, and points of view. The painful events of the last several months have made clear that we have much work to do in achieving that aspiration.

“Some of the issues highlighted in these two reports are the subject of work that is already underway. Others suggest additional areas for attention. The reports will contribute to the essential ongoing work of building a campus community in which everyone can truly thrive, and in which acts of bias and discrimination have no place. We also will continue working to promote the skills and practice of constructive discourse across disagreement, which is vital to our educational mission.”