House Republicans launched an investigation into elite universities on Thursday after their leadership refused to clearly condemn antisemitism on their campuses.
Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, asked the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” is considered bullying and harassment under their codes of conduct. The exchanges with the presidents drew severe criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as major donors to the universities.
After Stefanik gave each official multiple attempts to answer the question, all three failed to clearly state that calling for the genocide of Jews would violate campus policies. MIT President Sally Kornbluth said that she had “not heard calling for the genocide for Jews on our campus,” Penn President Liz Magill said that such a decision would be “context dependent,” and Harvard President Claudine Gay said likewise said the decision would be based “on the context.”
Republicans vowed to launch an official investigation with “full force of subpoena power” into the disciplinary procedures at the three elite schools. “Committee members have deep concerns with their leadership and their failure to take steps to provide Jewish students the safe learning environment they are due under law,” Representative Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, said in a statement about the move. “The disgusting targeting and harassment of Jewish students is not limited to these institutions, and other universities should expect investigations as well, as their litany of similar failures has not gone unnoticed.”
Faculty and students at elite universities have been divided over the war between Israel and Hamas, with protests for both sides of the conflict sweeping the nation in recent weeks.
Various charitable trusts and nonprofits have contacted university administrators to halt donations as the schools neglect to publicly support Israel in the war, which started after Islamic terrorists murdered several hundred Israeli civilians. Hedge fund manager and Harvard alumnus Bill Ackman criticized Gay as a diversity hire and called for her to resign, while investor and Penn alumnus Ross Stevens withdrew a $100 million donation from his alma mater.
