Press Releases

Today, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) along with Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Burgess Owens (R-UT), Mary Miller (R-IL), Bob Onder (R-MO), Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA), and Mark Messmer (R-IN) sent a letter to Alan Garber, the President of Harvard University, requesting information about whether the school engages in illegal, discriminatory hiring and employment practices in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the letter, the Members write: "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) prohibits employment discrimination because of an individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Committee is concerned about recent reports that Harvard University (Harvard) may be discriminating in hiring and employment on these bases… Numerous publicly available documents produced or published by Harvard suggest that Harvard may have been and may still be unlawfully discriminating with respect to its hiring and employment practices."

The letter continues: "Further, since 2021, Harvard seems to have provided to those who were interviewing job candidates 'Diversity-Related Sample Interview Questions' to 'assist in assessing a candidate's understanding and commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging.' One of the sample questions states, 'Explain how diversity played a role in your career.'"

The letter concludes: "In addition to the above, on April 25, 2025, Andrea R. Lucas, Acting Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), filed a commissioner’s charge with EEOC alleging that Harvard may have violated and may be continuing to violate Title VII. The charge cites public documents from Harvard touting its success in sharply changing the demographics of tenured and tenure-track faculty. The charge also points to multiple hiring and training programs at Harvard that seem to discriminate."

Read the full letter here.

###