Harvard University task forces charged with investigating claims of anti-Semitism and anti-Arab and Muslim hate reported that such prejudice had taken root on campus, urging the college to champion the fight against bigotry, reports AFP.

A task force on combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias found “a deep-seated sense of fear among students, staff, and faculty”.

“Muslims, Palestinians, Arab Christians, and others of Arab descent as well as pro-Palestinian allies described a state of uncertainty, abandonment, threat, and isolation, and a pervasive climate of intolerance,” the report said.

Separately, a task force report on anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias said both had “been fomented, practiced, and tolerated not only at Harvard but also within academia more widely.”

Many US universities, including Harvard, cracked down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the time, with the Cambridge-based institution placing 23 students on probation and denying degrees to 12 others, according to protest organisers.