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The House Committee on Education and the Workforce gave Harvard two weeks to provide a litany of documents relating to its investigation into antisemitism on campus in a Tuesday letter to the Harvard Corporation and interim University President Alan M. Garber ’76.
In the Tuesday letter, the committee demanded Harvard submit internal documents and communications concerning antisemitism between members of Harvard’s governing boards, as well as top University administrators. The committee also requested documents regarding antisemitic incidents and disciplinary responses, foreign donations, Jewish enrollment, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives on campus.
The letter, signed by committee chairwoman Rep. Virginia A. Foxx (R-N.C.), says the committee has “grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Harvard’s response to the antisemitism on its campus.”
A Harvard spokesperson wrote in a Tuesday statement to The Crimson that “the University is reviewing Chairwoman Foxx’s letter and will be in touch with the Committee regarding their request.”
The committee requested an extensive list of materials from the University — including both formal documents and informal communications — dating back to January 2021, though some specifically reference the heightened concerns around alleged antisemitism on campus since Oct. 7.
Though the committee opened its initial investigation into Harvard following former President Claudine Gay’s widely criticized congressional testimony on Dec. 5 about antisemitism, Tuesday’s letter suggests the committee’s focus extends to Harvard’s top leadership ranks.
“While Dr. Gay has since resigned, Harvard’s institutional failures regarding antisemitism extend well beyond one leader,” Foxx wrote in the letter.
The committee’s request includes all meeting minutes and summaries from the Corporation and the Board of Overseers — the University’s highest and second-highest governing boards — since 2021, a period encompassing not just the dramatic downfall of Gay’s presidency but the five-month search process that resulted in her selection.
If the University complies in full, the documents could push the Corporation further into the public spotlight, opening an unprecedented window into the proceedings of Harvard’s notoriously secret top governing body. The board has already come under scrutiny in recent weeks as politicians, prominent conservative activists, and University affiliates have questioned its wisdom in choosing Gay and criticized its response to allegations of plagiarism against her.
Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81, to whom the letter is also addressed, rebuffed calls to step down following Gay’s resignation and will continue to helm the board, a Harvard spokesperson confirmed last week.
The committee also requested any documents relating to “a pattern of deeply troubling incidents and developments” on campus, including a controversial student group statement blaming Israel for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, a viral confrontation between pro-Palestine protesters and a pro-Israel student at a demonstration outside the Harvard Business School, and other student protests featuring the chants “from the river to the sea” and “globalize the intifada.”
Echoing similar language from a previous letter requesting documents related to allegations of plagiarism against Gay, Foxx wrote that Harvard “has demonstrated a clear double standard in how it has tolerated antisemitic harassment and intimidation, but acted to suppress and penalize expression it deemed problematic.”
It remains unclear whether the University will be able to comply with the committee’s request for records of disciplinary action taken against students, which are protected under federal privacy laws. During her testimony before the committee, Gay declined to address specific disciplinary cases, citing students’ legal right to privacy.
The committee previously expanded the scope of its investigation to include Harvard’s response to allegations of plagiarism against Gay. That investigation, which will continue despite Gay’s resignation, also included a request for internal documents and communication between the University’s top leadership.
On Dec. 30, Harvard was granted an extended timeline to provide documents related to the plagiarism investigation, but a committee spokesperson declined to comment on if a new deadline had been established.
In an interview with The Crimson the day the committee announced its initial investigation, Gay said the University would “comply with whatever information is called for.” Garber has not made a public statement about the investigation since taking office on Jan. 2.
—Staff writer Emma H. Haidar can be reached at emma.haidar@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @HaidarEmma.
—Staff writer Cam E. Kettles can be reached at cam.kettles@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cam_kettles or on Threads @camkettles.
