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PHILADELPHIA — A congressional committee investigating the University of Pennsylvania’s handling of antisemitism sent a 14-page letter to the school’s board and interim president Wednesday, requesting a massive amount of information detailing the university’s response to antisemitic incidents on campus.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R.-N.C., chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workplace, wrote in the letter that the committee seeks “all reports of antisemitic acts or incidents and related documents and communication since January 2021.”
The committee also asked for wider-reaching information related to financial settlements, ongoing investigations, Jewish enrollment numbers and information on foreign donors to the university.
The letter is the first correspondence between Penn and the committee since it launched its investigation in December. It comes as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have stepped up calls to combat antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and as protests over mounting casualties in Gaza during Israel’s offensive have put universities at the center of roiling debate around freedom of expression, hate speech and the Israel-Hamas war.
The letter specifies the request pertains to nearly every relevant office at Penn from the president and general counsel to the office of student affairs, and extends to Penn faculty, staff, students and board members. The type of communication sought includes formal reports as well as texts and emails. The committee asked the documents be provided by Feb. 7.
A Penn spokesperson said in a brief statement that the school had received the request and would respond after completing a review of it.
And while the committee’s stated intent is to make sure learning environments are safe for students and that universities are abiding by the law, the breadth of the inquiry is far-reaching.
“We have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Penn’s response to antisemitism on its campus,” Foxx wrote, later adding that “an environment of pervasive antisemitism has been documented at Penn dating back to well before the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.”
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While the committee is only just beginning its investigation, Foxx’s letter was a full-throated rebuke of the university. She called the school’s response to incidents “abysmal,” claiming the university’s “institutional failures regarding antisemitism extend well beyond two leaders.”
She quoted Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who stated in December that Penn’s leaders “have seemingly failed every step of the way to take concrete action to make sure all students feel safe on campus.”
The letter lays out more than a dozen alleged incidents of antisemitism on campus, including the school’s inclusion of controversial speakers at the Palestine Writer’s festival, threatening emails sent to staff members at Penn Hillel, and vandalism at the center and around campus.
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