Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) on Sunday said that cutting federal funds for Harvard University and other schools should be an option “on the table” over their handling of campus antisemitism, The Hill reported.
Asked on “Fox News Sunday” if he believes Harvard should lose federal funding over the antisemitism, Auchincloss replied, “It needs to be on the table. Harvard and other universities have unfortunately become ransacked by antisemitism.”
“I have seen it in my conversations with Israeli and Jewish students. I have seen the fact pattern. And they need to look at their culture from first principles and actually create a culture of open discourse, of free speech, of mutual respect, in which people can pursue truth, in which everybody, regardless of nation of origin, of sex, of race, can have a suitable learning environment,” he added.
Harvard University has come under fire over its handling of antisemitism on campus, which has been on the rise since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Harvard University has come under fire over its handling of antisemitism on campus, which has been on the rise since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Shortly after the war began, a coalition of 34 Harvard student organizations released a statement in which they blamed Israel for Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel.
Later, then-Harvard President Claudine Gay came under fire after she, along with MIT President Sally Kornbluth and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, testified before a congressional hearing on the issue of antisemitism on college campuses.
All three university presidents gave similar answers to Rep. Elise Stefanik in which they failed to unequivocally condemn antisemitism or even calls for genocide against Jews.
Gay later resigned as President of Harvard amid the backlash over her congressional testimony on antisemitism. She subsequently claimed she was the target of a sustained campaign of lies and personal insults.
In February, the House Education and the Workforce Committee subpoenaed Harvard University for alleged obstruction of its antisemitism investigation.
The House Education and the Workforce Committee last week released a report alleging Harvard failed to take action against antisemitism. The report accused Harvard of suppressing its own antisemitism task force’s recommendations, which were created after the October 7 Hamas attacks against Israel.