House Education Chairman Foxx says Harvard investigation should continue after first report | News

The House Education and Workforce Committee’s Thursday report on Harvard’s response to anti-Semitism was the culmination of a months-long investigation into the university.

Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said it’s just the beginning, too.

Foxx said in a Friday interview with The Crimson that the 42-page report will be just the first in a series of reports on Harvard’s response to anti-Semitism as they continue to obtain documents from the university following subpoenas issued in February.

“We just have to see how serious Harvard is about fixing the problems,” Foxx said.

Thursday’s report revealed a serious internal rift between former Harvard President Claudine Gay and her anti-Semitism advisory group.

A few days after Gay announced the group’s formation, the majority of its members threatened to resign over the university’s response to anti-Semitism. Members outlined 14 changes to Harvard policy in a Nov. 5 email to Gay and then-Provost Alan M. Garber ’76. The recommendations were not made public until the committee released its report.

“It is the Harvard people themselves who are condemning Harvard with this report,” Foxx said. “This isn’t coming from us.”

“It’s the Anti-Semitism Advisory Group that found out all these things that were going on at Harvard, they passed the report to the administration, and then the administration did nothing,” she added.

Gay agreed to some of the group’s demands, including condemning the use of the phrase “river to sea” just four days later. She declined to ban masked protests and make other policy changes.

Since the committee’s investigation began in early December, the university has submitted more than 30,000 pages of material to the committee.

Harvard spokesman Jason A. Newton wrote in a statement Thursday after the report’s release: “It is disappointing that selected excerpts of internal documents, shared in good faith, are released in this way and provide an incomplete and inaccurate picture of the issue.” “Communicate Harvard’s overall efforts to combat anti-Semitism last fall and in the months since.”

Foxx said that because of the sheer size of the entire submission, the committee did not go through all of the information it had from Harvard. She said the committee plans to conduct an additional assessment in the summer before issuing a follow-up report. The committee has also requested information about anti-Semitism on campus from several other universities in recent weeks.

“Remember, we’re not just dealing with Harvard now,” she said.

While the report itself focused on Gay’s administration, Garber’s response to anti-Semitism depends largely on the upcoming recommendations of his anti-Semitism task force. The group expects to publish an initial set of recommendations in the spring.

These recommendations – and Garber’s ability to implement them – will likely play a large role in the intensity and duration of the next phase of the investigation.

“It will largely be up to them again whether they decide to solve the problems at Harvard,” Foxx said of the university’s leadership, including Penny S. Pritzker ’81, the Harvard Corporation senior fellow. “If they don’t solve the problems at Harvard, I hope a lot of people there will call for his resignation.”

“I have never asked for this because I am waiting for the results,” she added.

Foxx did not specify what actions Garber must take to receive the committee’s approval.

While Foxx left open the possibility of calling Garber to testify before the committee, she said the hearings themselves were not the focus.

“Everything will depend on the response of the Harvard administration and faculty,” Foxx said.

—Staff writer Emma H. ​​Haidar contributed reporting.

—Editor Cam E. Kettles can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @cam_kettles or on threads @camkettles.