Harvard University president Claudine Gay has announced her resignation after coming under pressure in recent weeks to relinquish her position as the 30th head of the prestigious institution.
The controversy erupted after Gay was accused of plagiarism, which followed after a heated debate around instances of alleged Anti-Semitism at the university in relation to the ongoing Israel-Palestine war.
Gay had been accused of failing to ensure the safety of Jewish students at the university after she did not unequivocally say that calling for genocide against the Jewish race was a breach of Harvard’s code of conduct.
Asked for a “yes or no” answer by Republican Party representative Elise Stefanik at a Congressional hearing if calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s rules around “bully and harrassment” Gay replied, “It can be depending on the context.”
Asked the same question again she replied, “Anti semitic rhetoric, when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation, that is actionable conduct, and we do take action.”
The 53-year-old had also faced multiple accusations of plagiarism in relation to not correctly citing scholarly sources.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that on Monday a set of six new allegations of plagiarism had come to light “pushing the total number of allegations near 50” while accusing Gay of ‘lifting’ almost half a page of material “verbatim” from University of Wisconsin professor of science and scholar, David Canon.
In a statement published on the university’s website, Gay said it was with “a heavy heart” that she announced her departure.
Saying that “consultation with members of the Corporation” had made it “clear” that her resignation was “in the best interests of Harvard” she said she hoped the move would help the “community” at the university “navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.”
Gay, who was the first African American to be appointed head of Harvard, said that she was committed to “confronting hate” and “upholding scholarly rigor” saying that it was “frightening” to be “subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”
Her tenure was the shortest in Harvard’s history lasting only six months.
In a statement Harvard Corporation said it wished to “thank President Gay for her deep and unwavering commitment to Harvard and to the pursuit of academic excellence.”
While stating that Gay has “acknowledged missteps” the fellows of the university said that has faced “deeply personal and sustained attacks.”
“ While some of this has played out in the public domain, much of it has taken the form of repugnant and in some cases racist vitriol directed at her through disgraceful emails and phone calls. We condemn such attacks in the strongest possible terms.” it said.
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They need to vet these people better.
A racist woman should have never been appointed Harvard University president.
This woman sat in congress and refused to agree that calling for the genocide of Jews would be against Harvard University rules on bullying and harassment.
There is no room for racist people like her in today’s society. Glad she is gone.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lwu3rBAWvOQ&pp
Nobody at Harvard called for the extermination of anyone, many American Jews e g Norman Finklestein, Gabor Mate, Katie Halper etc, have condemned Israeli atrocities.
It IS context dependent though. It’s a University after all. Do you really think as part of a creative writing degree, that it shouldn’t be allowed to write a fictional short story set in WWII, where one of the antagonists is an SS officer or something and calls for the Extermination of…. ?
That has to be protected under freedom of speech.
But it IS dependant on the context. If I enroll in a creative writing degree and pen a short story where the antagonist is an SS Nazi, it’s entirely possible to use the offending phrase. That has to be free speech. Harvard is a university afterall and there’s going to be difficult topics that come up in a variety of contexts.
A very privileged woman at a very privileged university who, as president, should be above sowing seeds of division and hatred. Having had publicity for plagiarism, which usually entails suspension, you would think she might have kept a low profile – but no – she had to add her recent controversial anti semitic comments to an already volatile topic – and now we’ll have to listen to her and her supporters, telling us how she’s a victim of race hatred
Woke strikes again. Another example of many why employing people who are qualified instead of the un communist way is the logical way. The ff councillor who wants to shoot people in the head and blm fraud being other notable examples.
Or the ex Fianna Fail councillor who was appointed a circuit court judge and turned out to be a bit of a pervert
This is my main problem with Gript, how can they or any Irish person support the mass murder of defenceless women and children by the settler colonial (mainly white European stock) Israelis?
As of 2021, the estimated number of Ethiopian Jews residing in Israel is approximately 164,404. In 2009, the Statistical Abstract of Israel indicated that 50.2% of Israeli Jews belonged to the Mizrahi, or Sephardic, group.