10 months ago
House Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx on Wednesday launched an investigation into the University of Pennsylvania’s response to antisemitism on campus.
A letter, sent to University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees Chair Ramanan Raghavendran and Interim President Larry Jameson, follows Foxx’s promise in December to examine antisemitic incidents on campus since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. The inquiry alleges that “an environment of pervasive antisemitism has been documented at Penn” well before the attacks.
Foxx’s letter to Penn also follows the committee’s first investigation into Harvard University this month. Foxx slammed the Ivy League school’s document response to the probe on Tuesday as “woefully inadequate” and threatened “compulsory measures” to turn over the rest of the documents requested.
The investigations into Penn and Harvard were spurred by the responses at a House hearing on antisemitism by former Harvard University President Claudine Gay, former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth. Magill was the first leader to resign after facing pressure and scrutiny from state lawmakers, the governor, donors and alumni.
The 14-page letter outlines several incidents of antisemitism on campus, including vandalism of Penn Hillel and Penn staff members receiving antisemitic emails threatening violence against Jewish spaces on campus.
Foxx is seeking all reports of antisemitic incidents and related documents and communications since Jan. 1, 2021, and documents that show the school’s disciplinary process. The requests mirror the documents Foxx also wants from Harvard, which extend beyond just antisemitism on campus. This includes documents from free speech legal settlements, the size and budget of the Penn Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and documents showing the total amount of foreign donations and funding the university has received.
Foxx has asked Penn to send the documents by Feb. 7. Penn didn't have an immediate comment on the requests.
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