A committee in the U.S. House of Representatives announced today, Friday, that it has subpoenaed Harvard University for its failure to provide documents related to the committee's investigation into antisemitism, a step the university has described as "regrettable" and "unjustified." Harvard was asked last month to submit a large number of materials, including documents and other items showing its responses to discrimination and reports of antisemitic actions.
A spokesperson for the university told Reuters in an email statement, "Harvard has provided thorough and good-faith responses through 10 submissions totaling more than 3,500 pages directly addressing the key areas of inquiry raised by the committee." More than 2,500 pages of these documents relate to the committee's investigation into antisemitism.
Harvard University and other U.S. colleges are experiencing tensions over reactions to the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israel and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza aimed at eliminating the armed Palestinian group. Republican Representative Virginia Foxx, who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, stated, "Quality, not quantity, is the committee's concern."
Foxx noted that over 1,000 of the documents received by the committee were already publicly available, and that Harvard has also failed to provide substantive materials on two of the four priority requests in its recent response. Subpoena memos require Harvard officials to submit a series of documents by 5 PM Eastern Time on March 4.
The university said, "Although the subpoena is unjustified, Harvard remains committed to cooperating with the committee and will continue to provide additional materials while protecting legitimate concerns regarding the privacy, safety, and security of our community." Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard last month following allegations of plagiarism and backlash from her testimony before Congress on antisemitism.
