Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school despite her despicable anti-Semitic 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 night.
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. 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.
Some lawmakers and donors to the the university 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 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 have similar responses from the president of MIT, who also testified before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee.
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.
(AP)
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17 Responses
A degree from Harvard is a badge of shame.
Of course. DEI until we DIE.
We need a few yentas in the media to dub Harvard with a nickname, “anti-Semitic Harvard”. Such appellations have traction. If false narratives like those the Democrats fabricated about Trump were effective, kal vachomer true ones can be effective.
“she got caught up in a heated exchange..”
that is such garbage.. it became a heated exchange after she refused to answer yes to a simple question.
the backlash was why she couldn’t answer yes to a simple question
not sure if this is a he or a she
this is the face of HARVARD
what a joke
She will be only let go once Harvard feels it in their pockets. And if someone donates money to Harvard, they will also feel it in their pockets. Money talks.
She has to step down too.
She did not make antisemitic comments. She said that they are protected speech. This si not accurate as Harvard is a private institution and, thus, not subject to the First Amendment. In fact, the student guide obfuscates on the general issue of offensive speech. It is very ironic that the President to fall headed Penn State, which is subject to the First Amendment. However, as a legal scholar, she should have explained that her hands are very much tied (see Brandenburg vs. Ohio and Virginia vs. Black)
Her saving grace is that she is a person of colour. For the simple reason that she is the first of that ilk to head Harvard they will not throw her out, not for antisemitism or plagiarism.
Correction: UPenn, which is a private institution. Mod, please erase that part of my comment.
This affirmative action plagiarizer has got the magical skin color and correct gender. Harvard will never fire a female black. THAT IS RACIST!!! Harvard will not allow discrimination or intimidation against Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, gays, transgenders, etc etc… The world would be set on fire. Only those pesky Jews are fare game. When it comes to threatening those lowly Jews, free speech must be allowed and encouraged. Harvard is very makpid on the First amendment when it comes to inciting the masses against the cursed Jews.
Don’t worry. These blacks will get what’s coming to them. If they think the privileged WHITE wealthy elitist pigs that control this country have any love for people like her, she is in for a rude awaking. The tide is turning.
Sadly, these black aren’t getting anything. It is just one example of the world we are luving now, upside down. Black People come from Cham, they were supposed to be avadim, not leaders
Don’t think that UPenn has learned a lesson. They are just as corrupt and rotten as Harvard, but they’re smarter. They can point to the deposed president and say, “Look what we did!” And do nothing else, and the entire Uber wokey pokey faculty and administration goes on its awful way.
Putting aside her anti-Israel and anti-Jewish comments since she wants to talk around it, the Harvard crimson published nearly half a dozen examples of where she blatantly copied verbatim parts of published articles and either cited them but in some cases did not cite them at all and passed them off as her own work. This is plagiarism pure and simple. I have personally seen full professors get tossed out of places like Harvard for “plagiarism” that was way more minor than this. It reeks of corruption at the highest level, double standards and makes Harvard a gigantic heap of hypocrisy. Keep your $78K of tuition and go to Hebrew University ranked 77th in the world or some similar institution.
This filthy rabies infected sewer rat must be hunted down and dealt with as such.
I wish I was black sometimes, it seems so easy.
Rebbetzin, the biggest money funding Harvard, may be government and huge corporate entities, whose fervent goal is to bring down the country. Any other donors such as “small time” millionaires, are small fry compared to the former.