Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to Harvard University President Dr. Alan Garber expressing concerns over Harvard willfully obstructing the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office from investigating a physical assault against a Harvard Jewish student that took place on Harvard’s campus.
In the letter, the lawmakers state, “As you well know, as a result of worldwide attention to this matter and from previous letters from the Education and the Workforce Committee (Committee), on October 18, 2023, Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee staged a “die-in” at Harvard Business School where students protested Israel’s efforts to defend itself following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks. During this event, an Israeli-American Harvard Business School student was physically assaulted and harassed by a group of protesters that included fellow Harvard students. The attack was recorded from multiple angles, as well as reported to a variety of Harvard administrators repeatedly by the student. Furthermore, although two of the primary assailants were identified as current Harvard students, Harvard has yet to take any serious disciplinary action against the students.”
The lawmakers continued, “Harvard is shielding those who physically assaulted a Jewish student on Harvard’s campus by preventing a state prosecutor from moving forward with the state’s investigation. In all our years of public service, we have never encountered a situation in which a law enforcement agency has affirmatively refused to cooperate with a prosecutor’s investigation—much less done so in such an open and brazen manner. Yet, that is precisely the situation we have here.”
Additionally, in the letter, documents related to Harvard’s decision not to cooperate with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office are requested as part of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and our ongoing investigation into antisemitism at Harvard University.
Read the full letter HERE.
