House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx said Wednesday that Harvard University President Claudine Gay’s resignation was the right step — but it won’t stop her and her committee’s antisemitism probe.
“It was the right thing to do, but it’s not going to end our investigation,” Foxx (R-N.C.) told a small group of reporters at the Capitol.
The committee will be “investigating many schools in terms of how they are handling antisemitism, DEI and where is their focus these days,” Foxx added, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion policies that conservative Republicans have increasingly decried.
Gay’s resignation at the Ivy League institution, where she will remain on faculty, comes after scrutiny over her response to antisemitism on campus and allegations of plagiarism.
Gay, in a letter announcing that she would step down as president, said that “it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign.” Gay, the first Black woman to lead the institution, added that she had been “subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”
Top House Republicans quickly claimed victory after pushing for Gay’s resignation since her appearance before Foxx’s committee during a Dec. 5 hearing on campus antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
The hearing prompted fierce backlash from House Republicans, who focused much of their rhetorical firepower on Gay. Foxx, during the hearing, called Harvard a “ground zero for antisemitism,” while Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a Harvard alum, reiterated her call for Gay’s resignation.
She is the second college president to step down since that hearing, following University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill.
In the wake of the hearing, Foxx opened up an investigation into the “learning environments” at Harvard, Penn and MIT, whose president, Sally Kornbluth, also testified at the hearing. The House passed a resolution condemning their remarks last month.
