Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian (MAP) Communities Committee

In November 2023, Stanford created the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian (MAP) Communities Committee to make recommendations on combating anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim bias and foster community on campus. Several members of the Markaz Advisory Board, including Markaz Director Abiya Ahmed, served on the committee, issuing an interim report in February 2024 and a final comprehensive report - "Rupture and Repair" in May 2024.In the 148-page final report, the committee provides significant findings around issues of safety, free speech and discourse, academic offerings and knowledge production, representation and structural support, and university communications, as experienced by MAP communities and allies at Stanford from November 2023-May 2024. Additionally, the committee makes detailed recommendations on these issues that can guide the university in the following core tasks, as noted on p.10 of the report:

1. Eliminate the Palestine exception to free speech and expression throughout the university.
2. Broaden opportunities for speech and engagement by revising time, place, and manner restrictions curtailing student speech and by expanding freedom of speech and academic freedom for all community members, not just tenured faculty.
3. Cultivate vibrant discourse even on controversial topics by recruiting a diversity of representation, experience, and knowledge among students, staff, and faculty. Continue to invest in structures that support this diversity.
4. Invest in new tenured faculty and units engaging Palestine and Arab Studies for the long term, and in the short term leverage existing expertise and create exchange programs to bring greater scholarship to Stanford.
5. Listen to and honor in-house expertise and community leaders when working on decisions and communications that affect the campus and its diverse communities, particularly during moments of crisis.