Top Republican wants to ban universities enabling 'antisemitism' from collecting taxpayer cash: 'Abhorrent'
House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik said she wants to prohibit her alma mater Harvard and other universities enabling 'antisemitism' from collecting taxpayer money.
A top Republican wants to prohibit Harvard and other universities allowing 'antisemitism' to go unchecked on their campuses from collecting large sums of taxpayer money.
Harvard and other elite schools have faced scrutiny over rising antisemitic events unfolding on their campuses and their lackluster response to the incidents in the wake of Hamas' bloody onslaught on Israelis and their subsequent counter-response.
House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, a Harvard graduate herself, is now calling for tightening the taxpayer valve on her alma mater and other higher educational institutions and said House Republicans intend to hold them accountable.
"It is abhorrent that Harvard and universities across America are enabling horrific antisemitism to run rampant on their campuses," Stefanik told Fox News Digital. "U.S. taxpayer dollars should be prohibited from funding any institution that promotes antisemitism or anti-Israel bigotry, and House Republicans will hold these extremist institutions accountable for failing their students."
Fox News Digital reported last week that Harvard, which has been under a microscope following the antisemitic events on its campus, has received billions of dollars in federal funds in recent years.
Between 2018 and 2022, Harvard amassed $3.13 billion in total federal payments, including federal grants and contracts, according to an analysis conducted by OpenTheBooks and provided to Fox News Digital.
Harvard also acquired generous tax breaks on its endowment. During those same years, the school's endowment totaled $50.9 billion, and it received $2.17 billion in special federal tax treatment.
"Are these wealthy universities operating in the public interest or their own special interest? Since these schools are educational charities under IRS code 501(c)3, Congress should hold hearings," OpenTheBooks founder Adam Andrzejewski said of the taxpayer money.
"Who knew that you were subsidizing the wealthy Ivy League? They don't need taxpayer help," Andrzejewski said.
Stefanik has been outspoken against her alma mater since more than two dozen student groups at the university castigated Israel and supported Palestinians in Gaza shortly after Hamas' attack on Israeli civilians.
The Harvard student organizations' statement, released on the day of the Hamas attacks, said the events did not occur "in a vacuum." The groups who signed the letter included the Harvard Islamic Society, the Harvard Jews for Liberation, the Society of Arab Students and the Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association.
"We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence," the message said.
"For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison," the statement said. "Israeli officials promise to 'open the gates of hell,' and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced. Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape. In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel's violence."
The statement also attacked Israel's "apartheid regime" that they say forced Palestinians into "colonial retaliation."
Shortly after the letter made rounds on social media, Stefanik took to X and called it "heinous" that Harvard student groups blamed Israel for "Hamas' barbaric terrorist attacks."
"Any voice that excuses the slaughter of innocent women and children has chosen the side of evil and terrorism," Stefanik said.
Jewish students at the university have also reportedly faced "anti-Israel and antisemitic bias" from Harvard professor Marshall Ganz, the Boston Herald reported.
These events and others prompted some of the university's influential donors to end their relationships with the school. Due to the increasing incidents, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan withdrew his offer to participate in Harvard’s fellowship programs.
Meanwhile, students are planning to sue Harvard, among other universities, for not doing enough to address the "explosion" of antisemitic incidents on campus, Business Insider reported.
"We're going to show that the universities had notice of acts of hatred and bigotry towards Jewish students, that there was pervasive anti-Jewish bigotry on campus and that administrators and university bureaucrats acted with deliberate indifference, which is the legal term, with respect to campus antisemitism," lawyer Mark Ressler told the publication.
"Things are out of control on campus," he said.
Harvard did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
