GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx admonishes Harvard for ‘unacceptable’ response to antisemitism investigation

By Matt Egan, CNN

(CNN) — House Education Committee Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx blasted Harvard University on Tuesday evening for failing to turn over all the documents lawmakers demanded in their antisemitism investigation into the Ivy League school.

Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, described Harvard’s initial production of documents as “woefully inadequate” and warned of consequences if the university does not comply with the committee’s requests.

Harvard faced a 5 pm ET deadline on Tuesday to respond to a demand from lawmakers for a mountain of documents relating to antisemitism on campus.

“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,” Foxx said in a statement. “This is unacceptable. Harvard must produce the remaining documents in a timely manner, or risk compulsory measures.”

Nick Barley, a spokesperson for the House committee, told CNN compulsory measures means the panel is “prepared to subpoena Harvard.” He added that the documents were received by the committee around 5pm ET on Tuesday.

“Harvard is committed to cooperating with the Committee’s inquiry and providing information, including the submission made today, which addresses important questions raised by the Committee,” a Harvard spokesperson told CNN in a statement. “We denounce any form of antisemitism in the strongest possible terms and are committed to the safety and well-being of our students. We intend to continue to engage with the Committee in a dialogue to respond to their ongoing requests.”

Last week, Alan Garber, Harvard’s interim president, unveiled two presidential task forces aimed at fighting antisemitism and Islamophobia.

“Reports of antisemitic and Islamophobic acts on our campus have grown, and the sense of belonging among these groups has been undermined,” Garber said in the announcement. “We need to understand why and how that is happening—and what more we might do to prevent it.”

Earlier this month, Foxx wrote a letter to Harvard leaders with a wide-ranging request listing 24 separate categories of documents to be turned over, including all reports of antisemitic incidents and related reports since early 2021; documents on how the university responds to such incidents; settlements by Harvard in response to discrimination, harassment or free speech violations since early 2018; and communications linked to Harvard’s response to an October anti-Israeli student organization letter.

Lawmakers also requested that Harvard produce information on the school’s diversity office and foreign donations, including all donations from Qatari sources since early 2021.

The House investigation is separate from a probe by the same committee into how Harvard responded to plagiarism allegations against its former president, Claudine Gay. Harvard turned over documents last Friday on the plagiarism investigation.

Another House panel, the powerful Ways and Means Committee, recently threatened to reassess the lucrative tax-exempt status of Harvard and three other universities amid concerns about how they have handled antisemitism on campus.

The Department of Education has also launched an unprecedented number of Title VI investigations into colleges, including Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University.

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