On Harvard’s 2024 Pulse Survey, Jewish and Muslim Students Report Higher Rates of Feeling Like They Don’t Belong

As Harvard’s campus convulsed in protests over the war in Gaza, Jewish and Muslim students reported lower levels of belonging and comfort in expression compared to their peers on Harvard’s latest Pulse Survey — even as overall student sentiment has seen modest improvement since the survey’s first iteration in 2019.

The 2024 survey was administered from Sept. 24 to Oct. 30 and received 10,078 responses — just 20 percent of the eligible pool of more than 50,000 affiliates. The 2019 pilot survey, by comparison, had a 44 percent response rate, with more than 20,000 respondents.

The survey ran in the wake of a semester of tension — when pro-Palestine activists encamped in Harvard Yard, Harvard periodically cracked down on protests, and national media frequently descended on campus. And its release on Monday comes as Republicans in Washington punish Harvard, accusing the University of permitting rampant antisemitism on its campus.

The survey found that just 47.5 percent of Jewish students and 50.8 percent of Muslim students said they felt comfortable expressing their opinions at Harvard — compared with 67.1 percent of Christian students and 77.3 percent of atheist students. (Seventy-two percent of Jewish students and 57 percent of Muslim students reported feeling comfortable expressing their opinions in 2019.)

Just more than 67 percent of Jewish and Muslim students respectively said they felt they belonged at the University, compared to 82.7 percent of Christian students and 85.1 percent of Hindu students, who reported the highest levels of belonging.

In 2019, Jewish students reported the highest percentage of belonging among all religious groups, at 79 percent — meaning the 2024 numbers represent a substantial drop. Sixty-one percent of Muslim students reported feelings of belonging in 2019.

The 2024 Pulse Survey reported metrics of belonging and inclusion alongside demographic information including race and ethnicity, religious identity, gender, sexual orientation, and political views.

Absent from the 2024 survey was a question included in 2019 that asked: “I believe Harvard leadership will take appropriate action in response to incidents of harassment and discrimination.”

University spokespeople declined to comment for this article.

The Pulse questionnaire assessed perceptions across four dimensions: sense of value, acceptance and integration, connection across difference, and supportive assets. Students identifying as Middle Eastern or North African consistently reported worse outcomes across nearly every dimension compared to students in other racial and ethnic groups. Students in an “aggregated” category — which includes those who prefer to self-identify as well as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students — generally reported the worst outcomes.

Just 70.1 percent of MENA students reported a sense of belonging — compared to 81.8 percent of white students and 83.5 percent of Hispanic or Latino students, who reported the highest level of belonging — and only 54.2 percent said they could be their authentic selves at Harvard. Only 45.3 percent of MENA students agreed that they felt comfortable expressing their opinions at Harvard, the lowest among all racial and ethnic groups.

The survey found a slight increase in self-reported belonging among all students. In 2024, 78 percent of student respondents agreed with the statement “I feel like I belong at Harvard,” up from 74 percent in 2019. Faculty and academic personnel saw a smaller increase, from 74 percent to 75.2 percent.

“Across roles, a majority of respondents reported feeling a strong sense of belonging,” Chief Community and Campus Life Officer Sherri A. Charleston wrote in a letter accompanying the report. “Yet, the survey also reveals where we must redouble our efforts.”

Harvard launched the survey in 2019 in response to recommendations by the Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging, in a moment when universities were embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and training a sharper eye on campus inequalities.

But the principles have fallen into political disfavor — and Harvard renamed its Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, weeks after the Trump administration demanded that it eliminate DEI programming. The Pulse survey results were released in the same email that announced the change.

The survey report noted that nonresponse bias — especially among respondents who declined to share demographic information — could impact overall estimates.

“These respondents tend to report more negative experiences,” the report stated. “The numbers reported pertain to the sample of respondents and may not necessarily be representative of the entire Harvard population, which would require additional analyses of nonresponse.”

The results were released one day before a separate set of measurements included in the long-awaited reports from Harvard’s antisemitism and Islamophobia task forces.

The reports, published Tuesday afternoon, documented an atmosphere of fear and exclusion reported by Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian affiliates. The task forces conducted an informally distributed survey that drew nearly 2,300 responses, running from May to August 2024 — concluding shortly before the Pulse survey began.

In the task force’s report, 56 percent of Muslim and 26 percent of Jewish student respondents reported feeling physically unsafe on campus — significantly higher than the 12 percent of Christian and 8 percent of atheist or agnostic students sharing those sentiments. The Pulse survey did not poll respondents on their perception of physical safety.

For years, Harvard has battled fears that its campus culture pushes students and faculty to self-censor, disengage from uncomfortable conversations, or shut down speakers with whom they disagree. Those concerns only became more prominent as divides over the Israel-Palestine conflict rocked Harvard’s campus.

But even as Harvard announced a slew of initiatives to foster — and draw boundaries around — free expression, the Pulse survey showed that comfort in expressing opinions did not substantially change between respondents in 2019 and 2024, either for students or employees.

Only 68 percent of students and staff reported feeling comfortable expressing their opinions to others at Harvard, according to the 2024 survey. Among faculty and academic personnel, that number was slightly lower at 62 percent.

“This data point aligns with the findings from other surveys,” Charleston wrote, citing a separate 2024 study by the University’s Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group, which found that 45 percent of student respondents said they were reluctant to share their views on sensitive topics in class.

While most respondents felt they belonged at Harvard, fewer said they had found connections across political lines. Just 66 percent of students, and 59 percent of both staff and faculty, said they had formed satisfying relationships with people holding different viewpoints.

Students across the political spectrum were all likely to say they felt they belonged, with 79.1 percent of liberals, 80.8 percent of moderates, and 76.0 percent of conservatives reporting belonging. But conservatives were dramatically less likely to say they felt comfortable expressing their opinions, with only 46.5 percent of conservative students — compared to 74.8 percent of liberals and 60.6 of moderates — agreeing with the statement.

Transgender and nonbinary students reported significantly higher levels of belonging on the 2024 survey. But disparities persisted between cisgender and trans or nonbinary students, with 60.9 percent of gender diverse students saying they felt like they could be like their authentic selves at Harvard, compared to 75.6 percent of cisgender men and 73 percent of cisgender women.

The survey concluded before Donald Trump, a vocal opponent of transgender rights, won back the presidency and Republicans swept both houses of Congress. Since Trump’s inauguration, the federal government has rolled back protections for transgender people and effectively prohibited transgender women from participating in collegiate sports.

Slightly more than 80 percent of heterosexual students said they felt they belonged at Harvard, compared to 74.5 percent of students who are not straight.

—Staff writer Avani B. Rai can be reached at avani.rai@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @avaniiiirai.

—Staff writer Saketh Sundar can be reached at saketh.sundar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @saketh_sundar.