https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/congress-open-harvard-books
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) cited our findings during his floor speech to the House of Representatives:
Last week the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT gave testimony about the antisemitism and threatening behavior that had exploded on their campuses since October 7. Their excuses, delivered in cold legal parlance, drew rare bipartisan condemnation.
Our friends at OpenTheBooks.com brought hard data to the national discussion and debate.
They ran an essay-length feature in Tablet Magazine, a publication focused on “Jewish life and identity.”
This piece was retweeted by Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, Constitutional law expert and FOX host Mark Levin, political commentator Tammy Bruce, and fellow government watchdog Peter Schweizer.
READ THIS, IT’S SHOCKING: IT’S TIME FOR CONGRESS TO OPEN HARVARD’S BOOKS – TABLET
- The University of Pennsylvania, whose then-president (she resigned on Saturday), Liz Magill, seemed to smirk at the idea of being questioned by Congress, collected $3.7 billion in U.S. government grants and contracts, mostly for research, between 2018 and 2022. Over the same five-year period, Penn’s endowment ballooned to $21 billion from $13.4 billion.
- Columbia’s five-year, taxpayer-funded haul? $5.8 billion in U.S. taxpayer money—while its endowment swelled to $13.3 billion from $10.5 billion.
- Harvard has collected $3.3 billion in federal contracts and grants and has a $50.9 billion endowment,
“In a broader sense, Congress has a role to play because of the large amounts of federal funding that go to even private institutions. The founder of OpenTheBooks reported that Harvard and Penn are now more federal contractor than educator, collecting more on federal contracts and grants than on student tuition.”
“The group discovered that between 2018 and 2022, Harvard received 3.13 BILLION in total federal funds…while Penn received 4.38 BILLION in payments. Yes, Congress has a clear interest in what is happening at universities and not just from the perspective of oversight of funds, but also because universities are incubators for our broader culture.”
Moments like these illustrate that hard data can’t be denied, only reckoned with.
Taxpayers, students, parents, alumni and donors all have to ask themselves whether their money is advancing the public interest.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) cited our findings on Ivy League schools, their massive endowments, taxpayer funding, and their handling of anti-Semitism as of late. (Full speech by Rep. Kiley: https://www.c-span.org/video/?532355-… | 02:45:10). It’s worth noting that Congressman Kiley graduated with his undergraduate degree from Harvard and his law degree from Yale, but still understands this issue is too important to ignore.
