House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) is pressing forward with her probe into antisemitism on U.S. university campuses, now calling on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to answer for what she described as the university’s failure to protect Jewish students and faculty.
In a Friday letter, Ms. Foxx called on MIT President Sally Kornbluth and MIT Corporation Chair Mark Gorenberg to provide a range of records covering reports of antisemitic harassment on campus and investigative and disciplinary actions taken in response to harassment claims.
Some of the records requests cover the specific period in the time since Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza-Israel barrier and carried out a series of terror attacks across southern Israel. Other records requests pursue records of antisemitic incidents and other forms of harassment that may have occurred at the Boston area private research university since 2021.
Ms. Foxx has asked MIT to produce the requested documents by March 22.
The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip have brought renewed public attention to the long-running Israel-Palestine conflict. Much of that attention has shown itself across U.S. college campuses in the form of debates, demonstrations, and more aggressive altercations.
The Republican-led House committee has stepped up scrutiny over how leading U.S. universities are responding to concerns that Jewish and pro-Israeli students, faculty, and university guests are being targeted for harassment.
Ms. Foxx has similarly pressed Harvard University to account for its handling of campus antisemitism concerns and issued subpoenas last month to legally compel these document productions.
Ms. Foxx has also University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University have also faced scrutiny over their records handling allegations of campus antisemitism.
“We have received the Committee’s letter and are examining it. MIT is committed to providing a response to the Committee’s questions,” MIT spokeswoman Sarah McDonnell told NTD News on Friday.
MIT’s Record Under Scrutiny
Starting her 12-page letter, Ms. Foxx said Ms. Kornbluth “made numerous statements that further called into question the Institute’s willingness to address antisemitism seriously, including failing to state unequivocally that calling for the genocide of Jews would violate MIT’s code of conduct and community standards” during a Dec. 5 House hearing.
Ms. Foxx noted several additional instances of individuals repeating “hateful slogans” during demonstrations on the MIT campus in recent months, including references to “intifada” and chants of “from the river to the sea.”
The term “intifada” is Arabic for uprising and has been used to describe past periods of Palestinian-led civil unrest ranging from non-violent protests and acts of civil disobedience challenging Israeli institutions to stone-throwing, bombing attacks, and shooting battles.
The phrase “from the river to the sea” references the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Variations of the phrase include “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and proffered interpretations for its meaning range from an assertion of equal rights and self-determination for all Palestinians within that geographic range to more antagonistic references to the toppling of the Jewish state of Israel.
Ms. Foxx’s letter alleged MIT’s leadership “has failed to condemn anti-Israel campus groups’ endorsement of Hamas’ terrorism against Israel” before noting an Oct. 8 statement by pro-Palestinian organizations at MIT that said they “hold the Israeli regime responsible for all unfolding violence” and “affirm the right of all occupied peoples to resist oppression and colonization.”
In another Dec. 6 incident, reported by MIT Hillel Jewish campus center, an individual from outside the MIT community had allegedly accused Jewish students of being agents of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and, after being denied entry into the Jewish campus center, allegedly proceeded to urinate on or at the building.
Ms. Foxx’s letter raises concerns about specific MIT organizations and individuals as well. The Republican chairwoman notes one postdoctoral associate alleged to have made several social media posts she described as “virulently antisemitic,” including calling Zionism—a term encompassing the Jewish nationalist project and support for the modern state of Israel—a “mental illness.” This same postdoctoral associate allegedly referred to Zionists as “ZioNazis,” accused them of “genocide,” of wanting to harvest people’s organs, and of wanting to “enslave the world in a global Apartheid system.” The same individual also rejected claims of Hamas sexual violence against Israeli women as “perverted rape fantasies.”
Ms. Foxx said MIT’s Women and Gender Studies Program, Libraries, Center for International Studies, and Anthropology Department also hosted an event with an author who has allegedly accused Zionists of having “an unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood.”
MIT’s Women and Gender Studies Program hosted another guest who was arrested in Israel in November after threatening Israeli settlers in the West Bank, allegedly stating, “We will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke, we will drink your blood and eat your skulls.”
Other incidents highlighted in the letter entail incidents in which demonstrations have disrupted classes or blocked students from getting into certain on-campus buildings. One such Nov. 9, involving members of the Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA) student group, involved multiple alleged physical altercations between alleged CAA members and Jewish students. Last month, Ms. Kornbluth announced the CAA student group had been suspended.
Ms. Foxx’s letter covers allegations involving several other individuals and entities at MIT.
NTD News reached out to MIT with additional questions about several of the contentious statements and incidents Ms. Foxx highlighted in her letter, but the university declined further comment.
In a Feb. 23 statement addressing “incidents related to campus tensions stemming from the Israel-Hamas war,” MIT’s Institute Discrimination and Harassment Response (IDHR) office said as of that date, 32 cases were in various stages of the complaint resolution process, including some cases that have been fully resolved.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
