Campus News

‘Grave Concerns’: House Education Committee Demands Documents Related To Elite University’s Handling Of Antisemitism

USDA photo by Lance Cheung.

The House Education Committee is demanding documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) related to the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus, according to a Friday letter.

The House Education Committee is requesting all reports of antisemitic and discriminatory acts at the university since January 1, 2021, documents outlining the school’s processes to respond to “allegations of hate crimes, discrimination, bias, or harassment” and documents related to the outcome of disciplinary processes, among others, according to the letter addressed to MIT President Sally Kornbluth and MIT Corporation Chair Mark Gorenberg. The committee is investigating several elite universities after their presidents testified in December and refused to say if calling for the genocide of Jews violated the schools’ codes of conduct.

“The Committee on Education and the Workforce (the Committee) is investigating the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT or the Institute) response to antisemitism and its failure to protect Jewish students. We have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of MIT’s response to antisemitism on campus,” the letter reads.

The committee alleges that the university has ignored antisemitism on its campus since Oct. 7 and cited several incidents, including a pro-Palestinian activist group disrupting classes and allegedly harassing students. Kornbluth is also alleged to have told MIT Israel Alliance President Talia Khan that the school could not evenly apply the code of conduct due to fear of “losing faculty support.”

“MIT has cited its supposed commitment to free speech as limiting its ability to take action against antisemitism on campus. However, the Institute has demonstrated a clear double standard in how it has tolerated antisemitic harassment and intimidation by acting to suppress and penalize expression it deemed problematic. In October 2021, MIT’s Earth and Planetary Sciences Department canceled University of Chicago geophysicist Dorian Abbot’s planned John Carlson lecture over Abbot’s views on diversity, equity, and inclusion,” the letter reads.

The House Education Committee is also demanding documents related to the amount of foreign donations to MIT, as well as donations to MIT from Qatari sources, including the Qatar Foundation, since January 1, 2021, according to the letter.

Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) are also under investigation by the House Education Committee. Harvard President Claudine Gay and UPenn President Liz Magill resigned from their roles after the Dec. 5 hearing on antisemitism on college campuses.

MIT did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.