House

House education chair: ‘Strong investigation’ into antisemitism will go beyond Harvard, UPenn

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, testifies before the House Rules Committee as Republicans advance the "Parents Bill of Rights Act," at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) ensured Friday that the investigation into rising antisemitism on college campuses is not over.

Foxx also explained that the probe also wouldn’t be restricted to the three schools most recently in the spotlight: Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“We are doing a strong investigation of not just Harvard, UPenn (and) MIT, but Columbia, Cornell and a lot of schools where there have been antisemitic demonstrations and the administration’s have not reacted against those and kept their students safe,” she said in an interview on The Hill with News Nation.

When asked if she planned to have Harvard President Claudine Gay testify again before lawmakers, Foxx told host Blake Burman that the decisions are being led by the what is uncovered in the investigation, which was announced earlier this month.

“Well, I don’t personally want her back in, but we want to see, do we need to ask her more questions?” she replied.

“I’m sure there are a lot of people, a lot of Harvard grads who would love for us to bring her back in and ask her a lot more questions,” Foxx added. “But let us see how our investigation goes.”

The North Carolina Republican added that the committee plans to submit extensive questions to the schools and will expect their answers in writing. She did not provide a timeline on when this is expected or how long the campuses would have to return answers.

Her comments come just over a week after the presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT testified before the House in a fiery hearing that sparked calls for their resignation or removal.

The House approved a resolution Wednesday condemning their testimony, during which the administrators declined to say calls for the genocide of Jewish individuals would violate their schools’ policies.

In the wake of the backlash, UPenn president Liz Magill and the chairman of the school’s board of trustees resigned. Gay, however, opted to continue serving as Harvard’s president, with the board’s backing.

Rising antisemitism across the U.S. and abroad has been tied to the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Foxx vowed Friday that the committee wants to see the investigation through.

“We want to do this right. We believe in doing things right. Our committee does things in a very methodical fashion,” she concluded. “We want to get the right information to take to the American people.”

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