House Investigations of Harvard, Others Mark a ‘Watershed Moment’ [ InsideHigherEd.com ]

The flava:

When a congressional committee announced late last month that it wanted documents and emails that would reveal how Harvard University responded to accusations of plagiarism by its then president Claudine Gay, the demand set off alarms in higher education circles.

“The idea that the House of Representatives has the legal or moral authority to investigate the internal proceedings of a private university is outrageous,” said Ethan Ris, associate professor of higher education administration at the University of Nevada at Reno.

In the same month, Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee launched investigations into antisemitism at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—inquiries that could grow in number and scope to include every aspect of an institution. Essentially, House Republicans have declared everything that happens on campuses fair game for oversight, as evidenced by the plagiarism review.

That declaration worries experts who fear the investigations could undermine the system of higher education, infringe on the independence of colleges and universities and threaten their federal funding. The committee’s work represents a significant shift in how Congress deals with institutions, they say, and is part of a broader attack on higher education—though committee leaders say it’s not a radical departure.

The article:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2024/01/11/house-probes-harvard-others-mark-watershed-moment