The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has threatened Harvard with a subpoena if it does not turn over requested documents regarding the university's efforts in responding to numerous incidents of antisemitism on its campus and steps it has taken to protect Jewish students, faculty, and staff.
"Harvard's responses have been grossly insufficient, and the limited and dilatory nature of its productions is obstructing the Committee's efforts," committee Chair Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., wrote Wednesday in a letter Newsmax obtained to Harvard interim President Alan Garber and Penny Pritzker, senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, which is one of two of the university's governing boards.
"This is not surprising, given Harvard's similarly limited and unhelpful responses to the Committee's inquiries of Harvard's handling of allegations of plagiarism by then-President Claudine Gay," Foxx wrote. "If Harvard continues to fail to comply with the Committee's requests in a timely manner, the Committee will proceed with compulsory process."
It was the testimony of Gay, along with the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania (Liz Magill) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sally Kornbluth) in front of Foxx's committee in December that ignited a firestorm when each replied "it depends on the context" when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violated their schools' codes of conduct. Pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses nationwide began in October after the start of Israel's war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Magill resigned shortly after her testimony and Gay resigned in early January after the allegations of plagiarism emerged.
"Harvard and two of the law firms that have represented it repeatedly have stated they would cooperate with the Committee's antisemitism investigation, including Interim President Garber's recent statement that Harvard would 'comply fully with the process,'" Foxx wrote. "However, Harvard's actions have fallen far short of its commitments, producing mostly publicly available documents, while failing to turn over documents specified by the Committee and making inappropriate and inexplicable redactions."
Foxx's committee is seeking the following:
- Meeting minutes or summaries from all Harvard Corporation, Board of Overseers, and Harvard Management Company meetings since Oct. 7, the day of Hamas' terrorist attack in southern Israel;
- All documents and communications involving the Harvard Corporation and Board of Overseers since Jan. 1, 2021, referring and/or relating to antisemitism;
- Documents regarding disciplinary processes, changes in academic status, or personnel actions toward students, employees, and other Harvard affiliates related to conduct involving the targeting of Jews, Israelis, Israel, Zionists, or Zionism since Jan. 1, 2021;
- And all documents and communications regarding the establishment of the President's Task Force on Antisemitism, as well as documents related to meetings of Harvard's Antisemitism Advisory Group.
Foxx wrote if the university does not supply those documents by Feb. 14, "the Committee is prepared to issue a subpoena."
Newsmax reached out to Harvard for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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