Turn over a trove of documents about antisemitism on campus or face a subpoena. That’s the final warning Rep. Virginia Foxx, the Republican chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, delivered to Harvard University on Wednesday as the panel seeks to advance its investigation into antisemitism on college campuses.
In a letter sent to Harvard leaders, Foxx accused the Ivy League school of “obstructing” the committee’s investigation by withholding many of the documents lawmakers are seeking and submitting others that were publicly available and yet contained “bewildering redactions.”
“Harvard’s failure to produce documents requested by the Committee in a timely manner is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Foxx wrote in the letter to Harvard interim president Alan Garber and Penny Pritzker, who leads the Harvard Corporation, the school’s top governing board.
Foxx detailed a series of high-priority documents that she wants Harvard to turn over by 5 pm ET on February 14, including meeting minutes since Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks on Israel and communications by university officials related to antisemitism. This narrower list excludes some of the committee’s prior requests for information on Harvard’s diversity office as well as on foreign donations.
“If the above priority requests are unfulfilled by the deadline set above, the Committee is prepared to issue a subpoena,” Foxx wrote.
In a statment, Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton said the school was cooperating with the committee and “has provided extensive information with initial submissions made last month and several further responses. We have made eight submissions, including one on Monday, in connection with their inquiries, and plan another submission for Friday.”
“The safety and well-being of our students remains our top priority,” he said.
Garber, who replaced Claudine Gay after she stepped down last month, has signaled Harvard will cooperate with the House investigation.
In an interview with The Crimson last week, Garber said Harvard would “comply fully with the process” of the investigation.
Yet Foxx has repeatedly criticized Harvard for its response, previously describing it as “woefully inadequate” and telling CNN that lawmakers “thought Harvard would take this more seriously.”
In the new letter sent on Wednesday, Foxx said that so far Harvard has produced just one “document of significance” since the request for documents was made on January 9. That document is a set of recommended goals and steps to address antisemitism by Harvard’s antisemitism advisory group. It was provided last week.
Most of the documents Harvard has turned over are publicly available, including more than a thousand pages of student handbooks and university rules, according to the House committee.
Some of those documents contain “inappropriate and inexplicable redactions,” Foxx wrote. In one instance, according to Foxx, the name of the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League was redacted from the signature of a letter that he publicly signed.
