A congressional committee is opening a formal investigation into Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, following testimony by their presidents during a hearing on Tuesday.
Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the Republican chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, announced on Thursday “a formal investigation into the learning environments” and “policies and disciplinary procedures” at the three institutions, noting that the panel would issue subpoenas if necessary. Other colleges can expect scrutiny, too, she said: “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.”
The presidents’ remarks during the hearing prompted an immediate backlash. It stemmed from a question Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, asked all three about whether they considered students’ chants of “intifada” during campus protests a violation of their institutions’ codes of conduct. Claudine Gay of Harvard, M. Elizabeth Magill of Penn, and Sally Kornbluth of MIT each said that such chants could be investigated as harassment, depending on the context.
“It does not depend on the context; the answer is yes, and this is why you should resign,” Stefanik said during the hearing. That sentiment was echoed by politicians across the political spectrum, with Magill, at Penn, coming in for particularly pointed criticism. Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, said she had “failed” to “speak and act with moral clarity,” and he made an implicit call for her removal. Penn’s Board of Trustees, which Shapiro said should meet to consider whether Magill’s comments “represent the values” of the university and board, held an emergency meeting on Thursday, though it was not immediately clear if the meeting concerned to Magill’s leadership. Sources told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Magill remained in her post after the meeting.
In a statement provided to The Chronicle, Stefanik pledged that the committee would use its “full congressional authority” to hold all three institutions, and others, accountable for “their failure on the global stage,” calling the presidents’ testimony “pathetic and morally bankrupt.” (A representative for Stefanik did not immediately answer a question about which other institutions would be investigated.)
The House committee’s investigation could have ripple effects throughout academe. Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, administrators have struggled to respond. Many issued statements that faculty members, students, and others saw as tepid, while protests drove deep rifts into campus communities.
