BOSTON — Harvard University has been hit with a congressional subpoena related to a House committee’s antisemitism investigation into the campus, while the university is calling the subpoenas “unwarranted.”
The Republican-led Committee on Education and the Workforce — the House panel that grilled Harvard’s former president who later resigned following backlash — has served subpoenas to three Harvard leaders for reportedly failing to produce documents related to the committee’s antisemitism probe.
Those documents include: all reports of antisemitic acts or incidents over the last three years on campus; and the results of any disciplinary processes toward Harvard students and employees who targeted Jews, Israelis, Israel, Zionists, or Zionism.
“I am extremely disappointed in the path that Harvard has chosen to take in the Committee’s investigation,” Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx said in a statement. “Over the course of this investigation, Harvard has touted its willingness to work with the Committee, citing the thousands of pages of documents it has produced.
“But, of the 2,516 pages of documents Harvard has produced in response to the Committee’s antisemitism inquiry to date, at least 1,032 —over 40 percent —were already publicly available. Quality —not quantity— is the Committee’s concern,” the North Carolina Republican added.
The subpoenas are addressed for Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker, Interim President Alan Garber, and Harvard Management Company’s CEO N.P. Narvekar.
“Last week, I made it very clear to Harvard that the documents it had produced up to that point were severely insufficient,” Foxx said. “I warned that a subpoena would be warranted if the university continued to miss the mark, giving it ample opportunity to correct course before compulsory measures were taken.
“Unfortunately, Harvard did not heed the Committee’s warning and once again failed to satisfy the Committee’s requests,” the chairwoman said, later adding, “Harvard’s continued failure to satisfy the Committee’s requests is unacceptable. 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.”
Claudine Gay, the ex-president at Harvard, resigned earlier this year in the wake of the explosive Congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus — and following allegations that she had plagiarized.
During Gay’s testimony, the former president refused to characterize calls for the genocide of Jews as a breach of Harvard’s code of conduct. After that bombshell hearing, the committee said it was launching an investigation of antisemitic incidents at the school.
Harvard has provided information in response to the committee’s inquiries through 10 submissions, totaling more than 3,500 pages.
This includes seven submissions totaling more than 2,500 pages related to the committee’s antisemitism inquiry, and three submissions totaling more than 1,000 pages related to the committee’s inquiry on the review of plagiarism allegations.
“Given the breadth and extensive nature of the information Harvard has provided to the Committee, it is unfortunate that the Committee has chosen to issue subpoenas,” a Harvard spokesperson said in a statement. “Harvard has provided fulsome and good faith responses across 10 submissions totaling more than 3,500 pages that directly address key areas of inquiry put forward by the Committee.
“While subpoenas were unwarranted, Harvard remains committed to cooperating with the Committee and will continue to provide additional materials, while protecting the legitimate privacy, safety and security concerns of our community,” the spokesperson added. “Antisemitism has no place in the Harvard community. We remain steadfast in our commitment to combating antisemitism, in whatever form it manifests itself and our ongoing efforts to ensure that Jewish students feel safe, valued, and embraced at Harvard.”