Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and James Comer (R-Ky.) announced on Thursday that they would launch a House oversight investigation of Harvard University the Ivy League school rejected the Trump administration’s conditions to restore federal funding.
Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Stefanik, chairwoman of House Republican Leadership, wrote to Harvard president Alan Garber demanding records of Harvard communications about antisemitism on campus, the admittance of foreign students who support terrorism or hate Jews and the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
“Harvard is apparently so unable or unwilling to prevent unlawful discrimination that the institution, at your direction, is refusing to enter into a reasonable settlement agreement proposed by federal officials intended to put Harvard back in compliance with the law,” the duo wrote. “No matter how entitled your behavior, no institution is entitled to violate the law.”
Comer and Stefanik allege that Harvard’s policies violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars federal funding to any program that discriminates on the basis of race, color or national origin, and that the university is therefore ineligible to receive federal dollars.
“If Harvard, or any institution for that matter, does not wish to comply with this basic legal obligation, the proper avenue for achieving this is simple: do not take federal financial assistance,” they wrote.
Garber wrote an open letter to the Harvard community on Monday explaining why he had rejected the Trump administration’s wide ranging demands for change, which included achieving viewpoint diversity in hiring and admissions and reforms to programs that it alleged “most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture.”
“The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI,” Garber wrote. “No government, regardless of which party is in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
The administration subsequently froze more than $2.2 billion in federal funding to the university and is reportedly considering stripping the school’s tax-exempt status.
