Harvard University President Claudine Gay will retain her job as university leaders reposed faith in her leadership on Monday after she was dogged by intense criticism on her response to anti-Semitism on the campus, including a grilling by Congressional lawmakers last week, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
“We today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the Harvard board said in a statement on 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.”
Gay’s responses to whether discussion of the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard policies led a group of bipartisan lawmakers to call for her ouster, as did prominent and wealthy alumni. New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik was seeking a “yes” answer. Instead, Gay, replied that “anti-Semitic rhetoric when it crosses into conduct, that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation, that is actionable conduct, and we do take action.”
She elaborated on her comments on social media and in an interview with The Harvard Crimson, the Ivy League institution’s student newspaper.
“There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students,” she said, in a statement posted on the social media platform X the day after the hearing. “Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”
Nevertheless, Stefanik announced investigations of Harvard, MIT and Penn late last week.
In its statement, the Harvard Corporation acknowledged Gay’s missteps during the testimony and noted her apology. “So many people have suffered tremendous damage and pain because of Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack, and the University’s initial statement should have been an immediate, direct, and unequivocal condemnation… 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 anti-Semitism,” the statement continued.
Her fate differs from that of another president who faced congressional questions: On Saturday, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, who appeared alongside Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth, resigned after a similar critique.
Despite the furor, Gay drew petitions in support of her presidency, including one by 700 faculty and another by Black faculty. Gay is Harvard’s first Black president and began the role earlier this year. Harvard’s most prominent alumni group unanimously backed Gay in a letter sent to the university’s governing boards on Monday.
“The suggestion that she would not stand boldly against manifestations of antisemitism and any suggestion that her selection as president was the result of a process that elevated an unqualified person based on considerations of race and gender are specious and politically motivated,” the petition by Black faculty reads.
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