A US House of Representatives panel on Tuesday asked Harvard University for a list of documents in relation to a probe on antisemitism at the school, and gave Harvard two weeks to produce the records, Reuters reported.
Republican Representative Virginia Foxx, who chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee, sent a letter to Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker and interim President Alan Garber requesting the documents.
Foxx said the panel, which last month also opened a review of Harvard's handling of allegations of plagiarism by its then-president, wanted documents on all reports of antisemitic incidents on campus since January 2021, disciplinary processes to address allegations of hate and bias, and Harvard's response to recent pro-Palestinian Arab protests and activities.
The documents requested include any list of "posts by Harvard students, faculty, staff, and other Harvard affiliates on Sidechat and other social media platforms targeting Jews, Israelis, Israel, Zionists, or Zionism."
A Harvard University spokesperson said the university was reviewing the letter and will be in touch with the committee over its request.
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.
In response to a question about whether such calls for genocide violate Harvard's code of conduct, Gay responded that this depended on the "context" and whether or not the genocidal language turned into action.
Gay last week resigned as President of Harvard amid the backlash over her congressional testimony on antisemitism. She later claimed she was the target of a sustained campaign of lies and personal insults.