Harvard president resigns amid controversy over anti-Semitisim hearing
The president of Harvard University, Claudine Gay, has resigned amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over a congressional hearing during which she was unable to say whether calls for the genocide of Jews on campus would violate the school’s conduct policy, Al Jazeera reported.
In a statement announcing her departure on Tuesday, Gay wrote, “It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president.”
“It has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor … and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus,” she added.
In July 2023, Gay became the first Black president of Harvard in 387 years.
But last month, Gay, along with the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, came under fire for their lawyerly responses to a line of questioning from New York Republican representative Elise Stefanik, who asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the college’s code of conduct.
The three presidents had been called before the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce to answer accusations that universities were failing to protect Jewish students in light of the rise in anti-Semitism following Israel’s assault on Gaza and the rising Palestinian death toll.
In response to the question, Gay said that it depended on the context and that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies”.
But her answer met intense backlash from both Republicans and Democrats.
More than 70 lawmakers, including two Democrats, called for her resignation, while several high-profile Harvard alumni and donors called for her departure.
But, more than 700 Harvard faculty members signed a letter supporting Gay.
