House panel accuses Harvard of suppressing antisemitism group’s findings

The House Education and the Workforce Committee released a report Friday it says shows Harvard University’s lack of action against antisemitism, accusing the top university of suppressing its own antisemitism taskforce’s recommendations. 

Harvard’s Antisemitism Advisory Group (AAG) was created after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and laid out numerous recommendations to the school to combat discrimination against Jewish students, but the committee said “these were never made public or implemented.” 

Among the recommendations the AAG gave, the committee highlighted suggestions such as “zero tolerance” for classroom disruptions, holding student groups accountable and investigating the inadequacy of the diversity, equity and inclusion office in combatting antisemitism.  

“The Committee’s report proves that former President [Claudine] Gay and Harvard’s leadership propped up the university’s Antisemitism Advisory Group all for show,” said Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). “Not only did the AAG find that antisemitism was a major issue on campus, it offered several recommendations on how to combat the problem — none of which were ever implemented with any real vigor. This shocking revelation reveals an inner look at how dysfunctional Harvard’s administration is and the deep-seated moral rot that clouds its judgement.” 

The 42-page report largely comes from information obtained from a subpoena against Harvard that produced notes for AAG’s meetings and an interview with a member of the group.  

The committee said the group also told Harvard it had concerns about the school not sharing disciplinary outcomes of antisemitic incidents publicly and addressing masked protests on campus.  

“It is disappointing to see selective excerpts from internal documents, shared in good faith, released in this manner, offering an incomplete and inaccurate view of Harvard’s overall efforts to combat antisemitism last fall and in the months since,” a Harvard spokesperson said in response to the committee’s report.

“Our community and campus are different today because of the actions we have taken, and continue to take, to combat hate and to promote and nurture civil dialogue and respectful engagement. Harvard has and will continue to be unequivocal – in our words and actions – that antisemitism is not and will not be tolerated on our campus,” the spokesperson added.

The report comes after months of investigation by the committee after Gay resigned from her role following comments made at a congressional hearing on antisemitism.  

The House committee has repeatedly accused Harvard since then of ignoring requests for documents and not abiding by a subpoena the lawmakers sent the school.  

The school said it has produced thousands of documents for the committee and will continue to work with them on the issue. 

This story was updated at 11:58 a.m.