Harvard Slapped With Congressional Subpoena Over “Failure To Satisfy” Antisemitism Probe

On Friday morning, the House Education and the Workforce Committee revealed on social media platform X that it is serving subpoenas to Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker, Interim President Dr. Alan Garber, and Harvard Management Company’s Chief Executive Officer N.P. Narvekar “for failing to produce priority documents related to the Committee’s antisemitism investigation.” 

Today, @EdWorkforceCmte is subpoenaing Harvard for failing to produce priority documents related to the Committee’s antisemitism investigation.

This is the first time in the Committee’s history that a university has been subpoenaed.

Read @virginiafoxx‘s full statement: pic.twitter.com/DRW1vSINN7

— House Committee on Education & the Workforce (@EdWorkforceCmte) February 16, 2024

Committee Chair Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, wrote in a statement: 

“I am extremely disappointed in the path that Harvard has chosen to take in the Committee’s investigation. Over the course of this investigation, Harvard has touted its willingness to work with the Committee, citing the thousands of pages of documents it has produced. But, of the 2,516 pages of documents Harvard has produced in response to the Committee’s antisemitism inquiry to date, at least 1,032—over 40 percent—were already publicly available. Quality—not quantity—is the Committee’s concern.”

Foxx continued:

“Last week, I made it very clear to Harvard that the documents it had produced up to that point were severely insufficient. I warned that a subpoena would be warranted if the university continued to miss the mark, giving it ample opportunity to correct course before compulsory measures were taken. Unfortunately, Harvard did not heed the Committee’s warning and once again failed to satisfy the Committee’s requests. In its most recent response, Harvard failed to make substantial productions on two of four priority requests and its productions on the remaining two priority requests contain notable deficiencies, including apparent omissions and questionable redactions. 

“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.

“It is my hope that these subpoenas serve as a wakeup call to Harvard that Congress will not tolerate antisemitic hate in its classrooms or on campus.”

Last month, the House committee launched its investigation into Harvard’s handling of antisemitism after former president Claudine Gay resigned over plagiarism allegations. 

The subpoenas require Harvard officials to disclose additional internal reports, communications, and documents regarding the measures they took to protect Jewish students on campus. This followed a surge in antisemitism campus-wide triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.