House Republicans are launching an investigation into Harvard, accusing it of possibly “improper use of federal funds” after it refused to reach a settlement with the Trump administration on its diversity policies and response to campus antisemitism.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), chairwoman of House Republican leadership, sent a letter to Harvard University President Alan Garber on Thursday. The lawmakers alerted the university that, based on the investigation, Republicans may craft legislation to ensure “institutions of higher education receiving federal financial assistance are no longer able to violate the law while lucratively benefitting from the generosity of the American people.”

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Harvard announced Monday it would not comply with a list of demands that, in addition to abolishing diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, included turning over admissions and hiring data to the federal government and alerting them when a foreign student violated campus rules.

The White House’s antisemitism task force told Harvard that it must accept those demands to maintain its “financial relationship” with the federal government. After Harvard refused to submit to the requests, the administration announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in multiyear grants to the university.

The administration has also weighed whether it can revoke the tax-exempt status of the university.

Now, House Republicans seek to determine why Harvard is “apparently so unable or unwilling to prevent unlawful discrimination,” Comer and Stefanik wrote in the letter, obtained by the Washington Examiner.

“As an institution receiving more than half a billion in federal financial assistance annually, Harvard—just like all institutions of higher education that receive federal financial assistance—is required to comply with basic legal obligations attached to receipt of those funds,” the lawmakers wrote.

“It should come as no surprise that Harvard would continue to advocate for illegal
discrimination and violate its obligations under the law, as it has a long, consistent history of
defending racial discrimination and antisemitic activities on campus,” the lawmakers continued, referencing in part its admission policies.

Harvard is among the institutions that are pushing back against Trump’s executive orders targeting higher education, many of which are anti-DEI-focused or seek to combat antisemitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war that divided college campuses and sparked pro-Palestinian protests.

Thursday’s letter marks one of the first high-profile legislative actions Stefanik has taken since Trump pulled her nomination to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations due to the slim margins in the House. After not voting for two weeks following her withdrawn nomination, Stefanik is returning to a topic that helped her gain national notoriety.

Stefanik led the charge against reported antisemitic harassment on college campuses after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. The House passed a resolution condemning three college presidents who struggled to articulate their position on whether students calling for the genocide of Jews are violating the schools’ codes of conduct during their testimonies.

Former Harvard President Claudine Gay, one of the three presidents targeted in the resolution, stepped down in January last year after a tense exchange with Stefanik during her testimony. University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill resigned four days after a similar exchange with Stefanik.

Garber, who is Jewish, took over the role of president after Gay resigned, and expressed his anger at the Trump administration’s demands in an open letter earlier this week.

“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” he said.

Comer and Stefanik are requesting documents and communications from Jan. 1, 2023, to the present that relate to school reforms, including “clear lines of authority and accountability; empowering tenured professors; and limiting the influence of affiliated individuals more committed to activism than academics.”

The Republicans also seek information related to DEI hiring and admission policies and those “regarding the admittance of any student that may have views contrary to that of the United States (e.g. support for terrorism or antisemitism),” as well as disciplinary actions toward groups advocating violence or anti-American views by May 1.

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“No matter how entitled your behavior, no institution is entitled to violate the law,” Comer and Stefanik wrote.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Garber and Harvard for comment.