The House Committee on Education & the Workforce on Tuesday began its antisemitism investigation with a letter from Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) to Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker and interim President Dr. Alan Garber, requesting information on how the school is addressing antisemitism on campus.
Lawmakers announced the antisemitism investigation last month after former President Claudine Gay, who testified alongside the heads of the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said context was necessary to determine whether calls for genocide against the Jewish people violated the school's harassment and bullying policies.
“We have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Harvard’s response to the antisemitism on its campus. In testimony before the Committee on December 5, 2023, Harvard’s then-President, Dr. Claudine Gay, made numerous statements that further called into question the university’s willingness to seriously address antisemitism,” Foxx wrote.
The requested items include:
- All reports of antisemitic acts or incidents and related documents and communications since January 1, 2021, as well as all documents and communications related to specified incidents, including the harassment and assault of a Jewish MBA student on October 18, 2023;
- All documents and communications since January 1, 2021, referring and relating to antisemitism, involving the Harvard Corporation and Harvard Board of Overseers (including all fellows and members), as well as minutes of Harvard Corporation and Board of Overseers meetings;
- Documents sufficient to show the findings and results of any disciplinary processes, changes in academic status, or personnel actions by Harvard towards Harvard students, employees, and other Harvard affiliates related to conduct involving the targeting of Jews, Israelis, Israel, Zionists, or Zionism since January 1, 2021; and
- Documents sufficient to show any efforts by Harvard students, faculty, and staff to engage in the BDS movement against Israel since January 1, 2021, and communications by Harvard administrators relating to such efforts. (House Committee on Education & the Workforce)
“While Dr. Gay has since resigned, Harvard’s institutional failures regarding antisemitism extend well beyond one leader," Foxx's letter continued. "There is evidence antisemitism has been pervasive at Harvard since well before the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack. A November 2022 report by the AMCHA Initiative…found Harvard had the highest rate of threats based on Jewish identity of the 109 campuses they surveyed. … Harvard has demonstrated a clear double standard in how it has tolerated antisemitic harassment and intimidation, but acted to suppress and penalize expression it deemed problematic. … Harvard’s dismal record on free speech exposes the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of its leadership’s rationalizations for its inaction towards antisemitism on campus.”
Gay resigned earlier this month following plagiarism allegations and amid widespread backlash over her congressional testimony and handling of antisemitism on campus.