The Harvard Corporation issued a statement on Tuesday defending President Claudine Gay in response to calls for her resignation over her recent congressional testimony on campus antisemitism, as well as allegations of plagiarism.
“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the statement from Harvard’s highest governing body reads. “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.”
“Calls for genocide are despicable and contrary to fundamental human values,” the statement continues. “President Gay has apologized for how she handled her congressional testimony and has committed to redoubling the University’s fight against antisemitism.”
During a congressional hearing last week, Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) confronted Gay over the chants of “intifada” that can be heard on Harvard’s campus, Gay said that such speech does not breach the university’s code of conduct.
“At Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment?” Stefanik asked.
“It can be, depending on the context,” Gay responded. She later said, “Antisemitic rhetoric when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation — that is actionable conduct and we do take action.”
After her congressional testimony, Gay apologized for her comments.
“I am sorry,” Gay said in an interview with the Harvard student-run publication, The Crimson. “Words matter.”
Gay issued a statement on December 6, writing, “There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students. 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.”
The quality of Gay’s academic work has also recently been challenged.
Gay had paraphrased or quoted nearly 20 authors—including two of her Harvard University colleagues—without proper attribution in four of her publications, including her doctoral dissertation, the Washington Free Beacon reported Monday. In at least ten instances, Gay used full sentences and entire paragraph with minor alterations.
The Harvard board said in its Tuesday statement that the university was informed in late October of allegations regarding Gay’s academic work. According to the statement, the Fellows of Harvard College initiated an independent review of Gay’s published work at her request and, on December 9, concluded that there were “a few instances of inadequate citation.”
“While the analysis found no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct, President Gay is proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications,” the statement continues.
At least 570 professors signed a petition delivered Sunday asking Harvard’s board not to fire university president Claudine Gay.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into Harvard University in November to determine whether the university has fulfilled its legal obligation to respond to the increase in antisemitic incidents reported in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack.
“At Harvard, we champion open discourse and academic freedom, and we are united in our strong belief that calls for violence against our students and disruptions of the classroom experience will not be tolerated,” the Fellows wrote. “Harvard’s mission is advancing knowledge, research, and discovery that will help address deep societal issues and promote constructive discourse, and we are confident that President Gay will lead Harvard forward toward accomplishing this vital work.”
University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill resigned from her position days after she downplayed antisemitism on her campus while testifying before the House. She will remain an interim president, and retain her position as a tenured faculty member at the law school. Scott Bok, chairman of the university’s board of trustees, also resigned.
“It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution,” Magill said in a statement. “It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”