Harvard highlights its efforts in antisemitism battle in subpoena response to House GOP

Harvard University submitted more documents Monday in response to a subpoena from the House Education Committee, which has accused the school of not being cooperative with its probe into antisemitism on college campuses.  

Harvard turned over more than 1,500 documents, including an overview of how it has been battling antisemitism.  

“Harvard denounced antisemitism on our campus and have made clear that the University will continue to take actions to combat antisemitism in any form. This includes ongoing efforts to engage with and learn from students, faculty and staff to identify the causes of antisemitic behaviors and address them when they occur on our campus. Harvard is focused on safety and ensuring a sense of belonging for our Jewish students — so that every member of our community is protected, embraced and valued, and can thrive at Harvard,” a spokesperson said.

The efforts include increasing security, such as having more safety personnel on campus, particularly where Jewish students like to gather. The school also clarified in the documents its policies around when protesting is allowed and expressed its disagreement with boycotting Israel and institutions linked with the country. 

The school also emphasized its anonymous hotline to report incidents of bias on campus and its creation of an antisemitism task force.  

The House Education Committee said it has received and is reviewing the documents now.  

“Harvard continues to respond, in good faith, to the House Education and Workforce Committee’s inquiry into efforts to combat antisemitism. With an additional submission today, Harvard has provided nearly 4,900 pages of information in 11 submissions since January, including non-public information and internal communications, along with public information, the Committee requested Harvard to compile,” a Harvard spokesperson said.  

The committee subpoenaed Harvard despite previous submissions because it said the school did not hand over the type of information that was requested, and that a lot of the information given was already public.  

“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. If Harvard is truly committed to combating antisemitism, it has had every opportunity to demonstrate its commitment with actions, not words,” Education Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) had previously said.