House Education Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) sent a letter to Columbia University on Thursday, threatening to subpoena school officials over their alleged failure to produce documents related to the Columbia University’s anti-Semitism investigation. legislator.
The House committee launched an investigation into anti-Semitism on Columbia’s campus in February, wanting information about anti-Semitic incidents and disciplinary measures on campus.
In Thursday’s letter, Foxx says the school did not give the committee “priority items,” such as “communications from priority custodians of documents, including several members of the Columbia Board of Trustees; records of Board of Trustees meetings; and requested information about disciplinary cases.”
The North Carolina Republican emphasized that these documents were “requested months ago.”
“Columbia’s continued failure to produce these priority items is unacceptable and, if this is not promptly corrected, the Committee is prepared to compel their production,” she wrote.
The committee is giving Columbia until Aug. 8 to produce the requested documents, including information about student disciplinary actions, records of meetings between the Board of Trustees and incidents of anti-Semitism since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by the militant group Hamas – which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
“If these requests are not met within the above timeframe, the Committee is prepared to issue subpoenas,” Foxx said.
If a subpoena is issued, it would be only the second time the committee has taken such action since it was created in 1867. The first time was in February, when Republicans issued subpoenas against Harvard leadership for alleged failure to comply with its investigation into anti- Semitism.
Columbia was a leading university in the pro-Palestinian protests that took place last spring, with many suspended or arrested on campus after student activists set up a camp and occupied a university building.
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