Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school following her comments last week at a congressional hearing on antisemitism, the university’s highest governing body announced Tuesday.
Quick Read
- Retention of Leadership Position: Claudine Gay will continue as the President of Harvard University, as confirmed by the university’s highest governing body, the Harvard Corporation.
- Affirmation by Harvard Corporation: The Harvard Corporation, after extensive deliberations, expressed confidence in President Gay’s ability to lead the university, particularly in addressing significant societal issues.
- Controversy Following Congressional Hearing: Gay faced scrutiny following a congressional hearing on antisemitism, where her and her peers’ responses to questions about campus antisemitism were met with backlash, especially in the context of the recent Israel-Hamas conflict.
- Specific Issue at the Hearing: The controversy centered on Gay’s response to a question about whether advocating for the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard’s code of conduct, to which she replied that it depended on the context.
- Calls for Resignation: Following the hearing, some lawmakers and university donors called for Gay’s resignation, similar to the resignation of Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania.
- Faculty Support for Gay: Over 600 faculty members signed a petition supporting Gay, urging the governing body to retain her as president.
- Harvard Corporation’s Statement: The corporation condemned calls for genocide as contrary to human values and acknowledged Gay’s apology for her handling of the congressional testimony. It committed to fighting against antisemitism.
- Gay’s Acknowledgement of Error: In an interview, Gay admitted to not denouncing threats of violence against Jewish students adequately during the heated exchange at the House committee hearing.
- National Backlash: The testimony of Gay and others received intense national backlash, highlighting concerns about responses to antisemitism on college campuses.
- Political Reactions: U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik expressed dissatisfaction with the decision to support Gay, criticizing Harvard’s code of conduct regarding protection of Jewish students.
- Criticism from Watchdog Group: StopAntisemitism, a watchdog group, criticized Harvard’s decision to retain Gay, arguing it would lead to more antisemitism on campus and continued to call for her resignation.
- Campus Tensions: The recent war in Gaza has intensified protests, antisemitism, and Islamophobia on college campuses across the U.S., challenging university administrators.
- Plagiarism Allegations Addressed: The Harvard Corporation also addressed plagiarism allegations against Gay, stating an independent review found a few instances of inadequate citation but no violation of research misconduct standards. Corrections are being requested by Gay for two articles.
The Associated Press has the story:
Harvard board kept President as leader of Ivy League school following antisemitism backlash
Newslooks- CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP)
Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school following her comments last week at a congressional hearing on antisemitism, the university’s highest governing body announced Tuesday.
“Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing,” the Harvard Corporation said in a statement following its meeting Monday.
Only months into her leadership, Gay came under intense scrutiny following the hearing in which she and two of her peers struggled to answer questions about campus antisemitism in the wake of the latest Israel-Hamas war, which erupted in early October. Their academic responses provoked backlash from Republican opponents, along with alumni and donors who say the university leaders are failing to stand up for Jewish students on their campuses.
At issue was a line of questioning that asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the universities’ code of conduct. At the hearing, Gay said it depended on the context, adding that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.”
Some lawmakers and donors to the the university had called for Gay to step down, following the resignation of Liz Magill as president of the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The Harvard Crimson student newspaper first reported Tuesday that Gay, who became Harvard’s first Black president in July, would remain in office with the support of the Harvard Corporation following the conclusion of the board’s meeting. It cited an unnamed source familiar with the decision.
A petition signed by more than 600 faculty members had asked the school’s governing body to keep Gay in charge.
“So many people have suffered tremendous damage and pain because of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack, and the university’s initial statement should have been an immediate, direct, and unequivocal condemnation,” the corporation’s statement said. “Calls for genocide are despicable and contrary to fundamental human values. President Gay has apologized for how she handled her congressional testimony and has committed to redoubling the university’s fight against antisemitism.”
In an interview with The Crimson last week, Gay said she got caught up in a heated exchange at the House committee hearing and failed to properly denounce threats of violence against Jewish students.
“What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged,” Gay said.
Testimony from Gay and Magill drew intense national backlash, as did similar responses from the president of MIT, who also testified before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, a committee member who repeatedly asked the university presidents whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the schools’ rules, voiced her displeasure on X, the social media platform, about the decision supporting Gay.
“There have been absolutely no updates to (Harvard’s) code of conduct to condemn the calls for genocide of Jews and protect Jewish students on campus,” she said. “The only update to Harvard’s code of conduct is to allow plagiarists as president.”
A grassroots watchdog group called StopAntisemitism said on X that Harvard’s decision “serves only to greenlight more Jew-hatred on campus.” It said it continues to call for Gay’s resignation and urged the corporation to reconsider.
College campuses nationwide have been roiled by protests, antisemitism and Islamophobia since the start of the war in Gaza two months ago, putting university administrators across the nation on the defensive.
The corporation also addressed allegations of plagiarism against Gay, saying that Harvard became aware of them in late October regarding three articles she had written. It initiated an independent review at Gay’s request.
The corporation reviewed the results on Saturday, “which revealed a few instances of inadequate citation” and found no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct, it said. Gay is proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications, the statement said.
