A House committee has requested numerous documents from Harvard University officials including Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker as it continues its investigation into antisemitism at the Ivy League school.
A sweeping request sent by the same committee that last month called then-President Claudine Gay to testify now gives Harvard just two weeks to remove all documents related to Jewish students and antisemitism on campus.
A nine-page letter signed by Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, and sent to Pritzker and Interim President Alan Garber on Tuesday, said members of the Education and Workforce Committee expressed “deep concern about the inadequacy of Harvard’s response to antisemitism on campus,” and demanded answers.
Although Gay announced last week he would resign, “Harvard’s institutional failure on antisemitism goes beyond one leader,” according to the letter, a copy of which was seen by The Post.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce gave Harvard officials two weeks to turn over numerous documents as part of its investigation into antisemitism on campus. Reuters
Foxx cited several examples where conservatives were disinvited from speaking on campus or had their courses thrown out as he took aim at Gay’s previous claim that context is important in determining whether calls for the genocide of Jews violate university policy.
“Harvard’s poor record on free speech reveals the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of its leadership’s rationalization for inaction against antisemitism on campus.”
He also referenced a report about the 2021-22 school year from the AMCHA Initiative, a nonprofit that documents antisemitism on campus.
It found that among the 109 universities it studied, Harvard had the highest rate of threats to Jewish identity.
“There is evidence that antisemitism has been rampant at Harvard since long before the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023,” he wrote.
Committee members expressed “grave concern about the inadequacy of Harvard’s response to antisemitism on campus.” CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The committee is now seeking more than two dozen different categories of information from the university, including internal emails and text messages between board members, evidence that students and staff faced disciplinary action for harassment of Jewish students and funding documents — particularly those showing contributions from sources Qatar.
The Congressional demand reads:
- Harvard’s Jewish undergraduate population has declined dramatically from about 1,675 students in 2013 to 700 in 2023, according to estimates from Hillel International. 16 This is a drop from 25 percent of the undergraduate student body to just 9.8 percent.17 A 2023 survey by The Harvard Crimson found that 5.4 percent of the class of 2027 identified as Jewish.18
- A pro-Palestinian activist disrupted a Harvard class on November 29, 2023, using a bullhorn to shout hateful messages including “globalizing the intifada” and “from river to sea.”
- Following the October 7 attacks, social media platforms were flooded with antisemitic social media posts by Harvard students. To give some representative examples, one post states, “Harvard Hillel is burning in hell / Harvard Hillel is burning in hell / And they are also funded by Epstein.”7 Posts on the anonymous messaging platform SideChat, which requires a Harvard e-mail address to be accessed , stating “LET EM COOK” next to the Palestinian flag emoji and “I proudly accept the terrorist label.”8
The committee also requested reports of any and all alleged hate crimes that interfere with access to a safe learning environment, as well as data showing Jewish enrollment numbers at universities and graduate and professional schools since 2003.
The university has been plagued by reports of antisemitism, which worsened when President Claudine Gay refused to say that anyone who called for the genocide of Jews at Harvard would be punished at a Congressional hearing. Reuters
It is also seeking documents related to any attempts by university officials “to understand the reasons for any such changes or trends” in enrollment data, including communications from the school’s Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging related to Jews and antisemitism.
The committee is also seeking minutes from Harvard Corporation and Board of Trustees meetings, as well as posts by Harvard students and faculty targeting Jews on social media.
In a statement to The Post, a Harvard university spokesperson said: “The University is reviewing Chairman Foxx’s letter and will be in touch with the Committee regarding their request.”
The university has been plagued by reports of rampant antisemitism on campus after Hamas launched its surprise attack on October 7.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, more than 30 Harvard student groups published a letter stating that Israel was “fully responsible” for the Hamas terrorist attack — a letter that was not condemned by the university’s leadership.
After his resignation, Gay called the exchange “an elaborate trap” in an op-ed published in The New York Times. New York Times
During Gay’s tenure, a Jewish student was surrounded by pro-Palestinian supporters who shouted “shame” at him as he walked to class, and the campus saw a doxxing truck drive by with student faces on it that blamed Israel for Hamas attacks.
Things got worse when then-President Gay refused to say that anyone who called for the massacre of Jews at Harvard would be punished at a Congressional hearing.
“Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct on bullying or harassment?” New York Representative Elise Stefanik asked Gay at the hearing.
“It depends on the context,” replied the academic.
After his resignation, Gay called the exchange “an elaborate trap” in an op-ed published in The New York Times.
“Yes, I made a mistake. In my initial response to the October 7 atrocity, I should have stated more emphatically what all people of conscience know: Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks to eliminate the Jewish state,” Gay wrote.
“And at the congressional hearings last month, I fell into a well-laid trap. I neglected to make it clear that calls for the genocide of Jews are abhorrent and unacceptable and that I will use every tool at my disposal to protect students from that kind of hatred.”
Gay had the shortest tenure as president at Harvard, serving only six months to a day. He was the first black leader of the nation’s most prestigious university.
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