Harvard Is Accused of Obstructing House Antisemitism Inquiry

A congressional committee examining campus antisemitism accused Harvard on Wednesday of obstructing its investigation, saying that the university failed to submit documents it had requested while flooding the committee with publicly available pages containing “inexplicable” redactions.

Representative Virginia Foxx, a Republican of North Carolina, said Harvard was providing a “limited and dilatory” response to her investigation of the school’s handling of alleged campus antisemitism. Ms. Foxx, chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, threatened to use subpoena power to force Harvard to submit more documents.

“Somehow, almost two months after the committee first informed Harvard of its intent to request production of specific documents, Harvard provided only a single meaningful document,” she wrote in a letter to the university.

Harvard said that it was cooperating with the inquiry and that it “has provided extensive information” with the eight submissions it has made so far.

“We have had frequent conversations with the committee and intend to continue responding to their requests as we receive them,” said Jason Newton, a Harvard spokesman, who added that the university plans to make another submission on Friday. “Harvard continues to combat any and every form of antisemitism on our campus. The safety and well-being of our students remains our top priority.”

The committee announced in December that it would open investigations into Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and M.I.T. following claims that the schools failed to protect Jewish students, faculty and staff members from incidents of antisemitism.