The Republican-led House Education Committee kicked off its formal antisemitism probe of the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday, which the committee called for after an explosive December hearing where three university presidents were grilled on allegations of antisemitism at their schools.
In a letter addressed jointly to Penn’s interim president and chairman of the board of trustees, Rep. Virginia Foxx, the North Carolina Republican and committee chairwoman, questioned the university’s “failure to address antisemitism on its campus.” The letter said there has been a pattern of “deeply troubling” events and “multiple incidents” of antisemitic vandalism and harassment at the school.
These events, the letter said, included that “anti-Israel groups projected hateful phrases onto university buildings, including ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,'” and Penn staff receiving emails threatening violence against Jewish life on campus.
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