When Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina and the chairwoman of the Education and Workforce Committee, arranged a hearing about antisemitism on college campuses, she said, her goal was not to force the nation’s top university presidents out of their jobs.

But after the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania gave evasive answers about whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated their schools’ codes of conduct, prompting a national uproar that led to their resignations, Ms. Foxx and other House Republicans decided to seize the political moment they helped create.

House Republicans are now embarking on an aggressive and expansive investigation into institutions of higher education in America, targeting the academic elites they have long viewed as avatars of cultural decay — all in the name of combating antisemitism.

“We want students to feel safe on their campuses, that’s our No. 1 issue, and Jewish students have not felt safe,” Ms. Foxx said in an interview on Friday. She said she wanted to broaden the inquiry to include a deep dive into what she has described as a “hostile takeover” of higher education by partisan administrators and political activists.

The committee, which hired new staff to power the investigation, is now planning to focus on other Ivy League schools, as well as some public universities, as it hauls in more witnesses — using subpoenas if necessary — to testify, according to people familiar with the still-evolving plans who spoke about them on the condition of anonymity.

House Republicans plan to investigate efforts to improve diversity on campus — known as diversity, equity and inclusion programs, or D.E.I. — and the impact on Jewish students. (There has long been a split in the Jewish community on the issue, with some arguing to get rid of D.E.I. initiatives entirely, and others pushing for Jews to be included as protected minorities who would be aided by such programs.)