Congress demands MIT submit trove of documents in antisemitism probe

The Congressional committee investigating campus antisemitism sent a letter to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday seeking a wide range of documents on how the school is protecting Jewish students.

The letter from Rep. Virginia Foxx, the Republican chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, gives MIT until 5 pm ET on March 22 to help the investigation by turning over the trove of documents.

Foxx said she has “grave concerns” about MIT’s response to antisemitism and accused the school of “hypocrisy and selective of enforcement” of its rules that “exposes the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of its leadership’s rationalizations for their inaction towards antisemitism on campus.”

MIT joins three Ivy League schools that have faced document demands from the Education Committee: Harvard University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Foxx has accused Harvard of obstructing her investigation and said the university “absolutely failed” to comply with the committee’s unprecedented subpoena for documents.

Now the committee is calling for MIT to turn over documents on antisemitic incidents since early 2021; disciplinary action related to hate crimes; sources of funding for certain pro-Palestinian organizations; communications related to antisemitism; meeting minutes from meetings of MIT leaders; diversity policies; and on foreign donations, including from Qatari sources.

MIT representatives were not immediately available to comment on the letter.

Last week, MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen detailed efforts MIT has taken to protect Jewish students, including disciplinary action and educational steps such as required antisemitism awareness training.

“At MIT, intolerance and bigotry toward Jewish members of our community are an affront to our shared values,” the MIT spokesperson said.

Talia Khan, a second-year graduate student at MIT, told lawmakers last week at a roundtable event that the school has become “overrun with toxic antisemitism” and by “terrorist supporters that directly threaten the lives of Jews on our campus.”

“In the past five months, I have become traumatized,” Khan said.