GOP lawmaker slams Harvard over antisemitism investigation

House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) went after Harvard University on Tuesday over its investigation into antisemitism on campus, describing it as “woefully inadequate.”

“Upon initial review, Harvard’s production to the Committee in response to its antisemitism investigation is woefully inadequate,” Foxx said in a statement.

“Rather than answering the Committee’s request in a substantive manner, Harvard has chosen to provide letters from nonprofits and student handbooks, many of which are already publicly available,” she continued. “This is unacceptable. Harvard must produce the remaining documents in a timely manner, or risk compulsory measures.”

Earlier this month, Foxx’s committee sent a letter to the Ivy League school asking for records going back to 2021. The documents requested include reports of antisemitic activity and information on antisemitism given to the Harvard Corporation and board of overseers. Foxx gave Harvard two weeks to produce the records.

“As you are aware, the Committee on Education and the Workforce (the Committee) is investigating Harvard University’s response to antisemitism and its failure to protect Jewish students. We have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Harvard’s response to the antisemitism on its campus,” Foxx said in the letter to Harvard Corp. senior fellow Penny Pritzker and interim President Alan Garber requesting the documents.

Six Harvard students have also filed a lawsuit over alleged “rampant” antisemitism at the school. Alexander Kestenbaum and five anonymous students, alongside Students Against Antisemitism (SAA), alleged the school is letting antisemitism unfurl on campus and lacking in protections for Jewish students.

“Subjected to intense anti-Jewish vitriol, including from their own professors and Harvard administrators, Kestenbaum and other Jewish students, including SAA members, have been deprived of the ability and opportunity to fully participate in Harvard’s educational and other programs and have been placed at severe emotional and physical risk,” the complaint reads.  

The announcement of an investigation into Harvard by the House followed testimony from its former president, Claudine Gay, before Congress in which she said context was a factor in if calls for the genocide of Jewish people would be counted as harassment on campus.

Gay later resigned from Harvard.