NEW DELHI: Harvard University's President, Claudine Gay, resigned due to controversy surrounding
allegations
of
plagiarism
and her handling of
anti-Semitism
on campus during the Israel-Hamas conflict. The criticism heightened after reports accused her of not properly giving credit to sources in her work, including recent anonymous accusations.
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 Dec.
9.
Initially supported by Harvard's governing body, the Harvard Corporation, Gay faced increasing pressure from lawmakers, alumni, and donors to step down. While some faculty members supported her, more than 70 lawmakers and influential figures called for her resignation.
In her resignation letter, Gay mentioned facing personal threats and "racial animus" during the controversy. The Harvard Corporation acknowledged her resilience but condemned the "repugnant and racist vitriol" directed at her.
The incident adds to a broader concern about rising anti-Semitism, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noting a significant increase on university campuses.
Claudine Gay, the first Black president of Harvard, emphasized the need to address leadership failures and denial of anti-Semitism. This incident raises questions about leadership challenges in universities, especially in navigating controversies related to diversity and inclusion efforts.
Former student and multi-million-dollar donor Bill Ackman claimed in a letter to Harvard's governing boards that "President Gay's failures have led to billions of dollars of cancelled, paused, and withdrawn donations to the university."
Gay, 53, was born in New York to Haitian immigrants and is a professor of political science who in July became the first Black president of 368-year-old Harvard.
Supporters of Gay lamented her resignation.
"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," award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi, who survived scrutiny of an antiracist research center he founded at Boston University, said in an Instagram post.
The Rev. Al Sharpton in a statement called pressure for Gay to resign "an attack on every Black woman in this country who's put a crack in the glass ceiling" and an "assault on the health, strength, and future of diversity, equity, and inclusion."
Critics welcomed her decision.
House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx called Gay's resignation welcome news but said the problems at Harvard are much larger than one leader.
"Postsecondary education is in a tailspin," the North Carolina Republican said in a statement. "There has been a hostile takeover of postsecondary education by political activists, woke faculty, and partisan administrators."
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.
English (US) ·