Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee responded on Tuesday to Harvard University’s turning over of more than 1,500 pages of documents subpoenaed by her committee, saying, “I don’t know if it’s arrogance, ineptness or indifference that’s guiding Harvard. Heavy redactions throughout the production made several documents useless. The committee is weighing an appropriate response to Harvard’s malfeasance.”
According to a statement from the university, the documents encompass a summary of Harvard’s measures to tackle campus antisemitism. The committee requested records and correspondence pertaining to antisemitic occurrences since January 2021, documentation regarding disciplinary measures in response to antisemitism, and the minutes of all meetings held by Harvard’s governing boards over the past three years, among other items.
In early January, Harvard provided more than 2,500 pages of documents in response to the committee’s initial subpoena, but Chairwoman Foxx said they were “severely insufficient,” noting that 40% of the documents were already available to the public.
“Harvard’s continued failure to satisfy the committee’s requests is unacceptable,” Foxx said back then, and threatened, “I will not tolerate delay and defiance of our investigation while Harvard’s Jewish students continue to endure the firestorm of antisemitism that has engulfed its campus. If Harvard is truly committed to combating antisemitism, it has had every opportunity to demonstrate its commitment with actions, not words.”
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), the second-highest ranking House Democrat on the committee, told The Harvard Crimson that Foxx’s interest in campus antisemitism is disingenuous.
“We should be clear-eyed that the House Republican Majority has no interest in student safety or stopping hate,” Clark said, adding, “Time and again, they fail to denounce bigotry promoted by their own Members, attack LGBTQ+ students, attempt to whitewash our history, and stand by white supremacists who stormed our Capitol. I call on the Majority to work with our institutions of higher learning to support our students — not use them to fuel division and play political games.”
The committee now has two options to deal with Harvard’s failure to provide the requested documents: submit a complaint to the US Attorney, or file a lawsuit.
