Claudine Gay came under fire last month for her responses to a question about anti-Semitism on campus.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned amid accusations of plagiarism and criticism over a congressional hearing during which she failed to say whether calls for the genocide of Jews on campus would violate the school’s conduct policy. .
In a statement announcing his departure Tuesday, Gay wrote: “It is with great regret but with deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president.”
“It has been distressing to have my commitments to confront hate and uphold academic rigor called into question… and terrifying to be the target of personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus,” he added.
In July 2023, Gay became Harvard’s first black president in 387 years.
But last month, Gay, along with the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, came under fire for their legal responses to a series of questions from New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the university’s code of conduct.
The three presidents had been called before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee to respond to accusations that universities were failing to protect Jewish students in light of the rise in anti-Semitism after the Israel’s attack on Gaza and the rising Palestinian death toll.
In response to the question, Gay said it depended on the context and that when “speech turns into conduct, that violates our policies.”
But his response was met with intense reaction from both Republicans and Democrats.
More than 70 lawmakers, including two Democrats, called for his resignation, while several high-profile Harvard alumni and donors called for his departure.
But more than 700 Harvard professors signed a letter in support of Gay.
Gay later apologized to the Harvard Crimson for her comments, saying she was caught up in the heated exchange and did not adequately condemn threats of violence against Jewish students.
“What I should have had the presence of mind to do at 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 never will. unanswered. ”Gay said.
But the incident marred Gay’s initial tenure at Harvard and sowed discord on campus.
Last week, Rabbi David Wolpe resigned from an anti-Semitism committee created by Gay. He said in X that “the events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I cannot make the kind of difference he hoped.”
After the congressional hearing, Gay’s academic career came under intense scrutiny from conservative activists who uncovered several cases of alleged plagiarism in his 1997 doctoral dissertation.
Harvard’s board of trustees initially supported Gay, saying that a review of his academic work revealed “some instances of inappropriate citations” but no evidence of research misconduct.
Days later, the Harvard Corporation revealed that it found two additional examples of “duplicate language without proper attribution.” The board said Gay would update his thesis and request corrections.
The Harvard Corporation said the resignation came “with great sadness” and thanked Gay for his “deep and unwavering commitment to Harvard and the pursuit of academic excellence.”
