Claudine Gay, the first Black president of Harvard University, resigned on Tuesday over plagiarism allegations and criticism over her testimony at a congressional hearing on antisemitism. Gay announced her departure just a few months after her tenure began - making it the shortest in the university's 388-year-old history.
In a letter to the university announcing her resignation, Gay wrote, "This is not a decision I came to easily. I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great University across centuries... (but) it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual."
Gay, in her letter, said it has been “distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus".
The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Gay was appointed the first Black person and the second woman to lead Harvard. Gay is the second Ivy League president to resign in the past month following the congressional testimony — Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned on December 9.
Plagiarism allegations
Gay's academic career came under intense focus after her congressional testimony on calls on campus for the genocide of Jews. Harvard is one of several universities in the US that have been accused of failing to protect Jewish students after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October that fuelled antisemitism and Islamophobia in several countries.
Conservative activists unearthed several instances of alleged plagiarism in her 1997 doctoral dissertation. Harvard's board also investigated the allegations and found that two published papers required additional citations. However, the board initially rallied behind her, saying that her scholarly work showed no evidence of research misconduct.
More claims of Gay failing to properly cite academic sources emerged just hours before she resigned on Tuesday and were published in The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication. Her resignation was celebrated by conservatives who put her alleged plagiarism in the spotlight and criticised her remarks on antisemitism.
Gay's controversial testimony on antisemitism
Gay, Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) president, Sally Kornbluth, came under fire last month for their answers to a line of questioning from New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the colleges’ codes of conduct. Stefanik specifically inquired whether the allowance of pro-Palestinian protests on their campuses advocating for the genocide of Jews was considered bullying or harassment.
"At Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard's rules of bullying and harassment?" Stefanik asked Gay specifically. "It can be, depending on the context," Gay responded.
"Antisemitic speech when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, and intimidation--that is actionable conduct and we do take action," Gay said when pressed to answer "yes" or "no" if calls for the genocide of Jews break school rules.
The answer faced swift backlash from Republican and some Democratic lawmakers as well as the White House, as well as high-profile alumni, who called for her to step down. "Her answers were absolutely pathetic and devoid of the moral leadership and academic integrity required of the president of Harvard," Congresswoman Stefanik said.
Gay later apologized, telling The Crimson student newspaper that 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," she said.
Additionally, conservative activists argued that Gay was hired not because of her decades of academic work and recognition, but rather because she is Black.
Reactions to Gay's resignation
Conservatives celebrated Gay's resignation as Harvard President, while her supporters lamented the decision. Christopher Rufo, an activist who has helped rally the GOP against higher education, said he’s “glad she’s gone.”
“Rather than take responsibility for minimizing antisemitism, committing serial plagiarism, intimidating the free press, and damaging the institution, she calls her critics racist,” Rufo said on X. Republican Congressman Byron Donalds remarked, "two down, one to go" in a reference to the three presidents who testified on Capitol Hill.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, meanwhile, condemned the resignation and called it "an assault on the health, strength, and future of diversity, equity, and inclusion" and announced plans to hold a protest outside the New York office of Harvard graduate Bill Ackman, who led the calls for Gay to resign.
“Racist mobs won’t stop until they topple all Black people from positions of power and influence who are not reinforcing the structure of racism,” said award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi, who survived scrutiny of an antiracist research center he founded at Boston University.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, in a statement on X, also weighed in on Gay’s resignation. “A little context. A failure in leadership and denial of antisemitism have a price. I hope that the esteemed Harvard University will learn from this dismal conduct,” he wrote.
Alan M Garber, provost and chief academic officer 0f Harvard University, will serve as interim president till a replacement is found for Gay. Garber, an economist and physician, has been Harvard provost for 12 years. Gay would return to the Harvard faculty, where she has served as professor of government since 2006.
“I have deep respect and admiration for Claudine Gay. Her devotion to Harvard has been evident throughout her career, including during her tenure as president," he said.
(with inputs from agencies)
