Harvard president remains leader of Ivy League school following backlash on antisemitism testimony

THIS. SHARMAN. ED. ERIKA. THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF BACKLASH. THE PRESIDENT HAS FACED, BUT HAS FACED. BUT TONIGHT, SOME ARE SAYING SHE SHOULD KEEP HER JOB. QUESTIONS SWIRLING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF HARVARD PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY. SHE’S FACING GROWING PRESSURE TO RESIGN AFTER THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA’S PRESIDENT STEPPED DOWN OVER THE WEEKEND. BUT SOME ARE STICKING BY HER. THE FACULTY AND THE STUDENTS OF A UNIVERSITY WHO DECIDE WHO IS THE PRESIDENT, NOT THE BILLIONAIRE. YOU KNOW, PEOPLE ON TWITTER, HUNDREDS OF FACULTY SIGNING ON TO A LETTER OF SUPPORT AS DONORS AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS REPEAT CALLS FOR HER TO RESIGN. LAST WEEK ON CAPITOL HILL, GAY AND THE LEADERS OF MIT AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA FAILED TO SAY CALLS FOR THE GENOCIDE OF JEWISH PEOPLE VIOLATE THE SCHOOL’S CODES OF CONDUCT. GAVE TESTIMONY WAS SO KIND OF JUST, FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD, BAD. MIT SAYS IT SUPPORTS ITS PRESIDENT. HARVARD HAS REMAINED SILENT, PUTTING GAY RESIGNING WOULD LOOK LIKE A CAPITULATION TO DONORS AND POLITICIANS. INS WHICH IS WHAT WHICH IS NOT WHAT HARVARD STANDS FOR. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, HAVING CLAUDINE GAY CONTINUE IN HER ROLE IN THIS COMPROMISE POSITION IS ALSO NOT A GREAT SOLUTION EITHER. A SIGN OF THE CONTROVERSY WHILE WE WERE ON CAMPUS, A PLANE FLEW A BANNER READING HARVARD STOP -- HATRED. I DO THINK IT WAS PRETTY ABHORRENT THAT SHE WAS ASKED THAT QUESTION IN, I THINK AT LEAST THREE TIMES AND COULDN’T JUST SAY NO. SOME STUDENTS BELIEVE GAY DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE. DEFINITELY THINK THAT WHILE SHE SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, I DON’T THINK RESIGNING IS GOING TO BE EFFECTIVE. NOW, GAY HAS ONLY BEEN PRESIDENT SINCE JULY, SO THIS IS REALLY HER FIRST SEMESTER THAT SHE WILL HAVE COMPLETED. SHE WE DID REACH OUT TO HARVARD SEVERAL TIMES AND WE D

Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school following her 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.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.At issue was a line of questioning that asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the universities’ code of conduct. At the hearing, Gay said it depended on the context, adding that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.”Some lawmakers and donors to the the university had 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 had 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 did similar responses from the president of MIT, who also testified before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee.U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, a committee member who repeatedly asked the university presidents whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the schools’ rules, voiced her displeasure on X, the social media platform, about the decision supporting Gay.“There have been absolutely no updates to (Harvard’s) code of conduct to condemn the calls for genocide of Jews and protect Jewish students on campus,” she said. “The only update to Harvard’s code of conduct is to allow plagiarists as president.”The corporation 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. Gay is proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications, the statement said.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —

“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.

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.

At issue was a line of questioning that asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the universities’ code of conduct. At the hearing, Gay said it depended on the context, adding that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.”

Some lawmakers and donors to the the university had 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 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 had 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 did similar responses from the president of MIT, who also testified before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, a committee member who repeatedly asked the university presidents whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the schools’ rules, voiced her displeasure on X, the social media platform, about the decision supporting Gay.

“There have been absolutely no updates to (Harvard’s) code of conduct to condemn the calls for genocide of Jews and protect Jewish students on campus,” she said. “The only update to Harvard’s code of conduct is to allow plagiarists as president.”

The corporation 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. Gay is proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications, the statement said.

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