Harvard threatened with congressional subpoena after ‘woefully inadequate’ response to Republican demands amid anti-Semitism investigation
- “Upon initial assessment, Harvard’s production to the committee in response to the anti-Semitism investigation is woefully inadequate,” said Rep. Foxx.
- ‘This is not acceptable. Harvard must submit the remaining documents in a timely manner or risk mandatory action,” she warned
Republicans are now threatening Harvard with a subpoena from Congress over what they describe as a “terrible” response to anti-Semitism on campus and are demanding a slew of new documents in their investigation.
Virginia Foxx, R-Va., chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, deemed Harvard’s response to the House GOP investigation “unacceptable” and accused the university of withholding documents.
“Upon initial assessment, Harvard’s presentation to the committee in response to the anti-Semitism investigation is woefully inadequate,” Foxx said.
“Rather than substantively respond to the committee’s request, Harvard has chosen to provide letters from nonprofit organizations and student handbooks, many of which are already publicly available.”
House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Virginia Foxx, R-Va., deemed Harvard’s response to the House GOP investigation “unacceptable” and accused the university of withholding documents
‘This is not acceptable. Harvard must submit the remaining documents in a timely manner or risk mandatory action,” she warned.
The investigation was initiated after a now-infamous committee hearing in which former Harvard President Claudine Gay refused to say that calls for genocide on college campuses constitute harassment, citing the First Amendment.
The Education and Workforce Committee is also now demanding all documents related to anti-Semitism on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
This includes: reported anti-Semitic incidents, disciplinary records, any records of settlements in response to discrimination and harassment, and all minutes of Penn’s Board of Trustees dating back to January 1, 2021.
The request also asks for documents related to the university’s financing from foreign government agencies, especially Qatar.
Harvard President Claudine Gay and Penn President Liz Magill were both forced to resign after their appearances at a memorable anti-Semitism hearing on Capitol Hill
The hearing on anti-Semitism that prompted Gay’s resignation also forced out Penn President Liz Magill, who had similar answers on whether calls for genocide constituted harassment.
Gay said it “depends on the context” whether calling for genocide violates Harvard’s rules of conduct, though he called such words “abhorrent.”
Action could only be taken, she said, if the hate speech turned into “behavior.”
After strong backlash and a donor boycott, Harvard’s Gay released a statement insisting she had been misunderstood.
“Some have confused the right to free speech with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students.
“Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group, are despicable, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held accountable,” he said. she.