Harvard keeps president amid calls to go
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school after 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 after the hearing in which she and two of her peers struggled to answer questions about campus antisemitism in the wake of the latest Israel-Hamas war, which started in early October. 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.
On Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania announced it had selected an interim president to replace Magill, naming Dr. J. Larry Jameson, who has served as executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine since 2011.
Some lawmakers and donors to the university had called for Gay to step down after the resignation of Liz Magill as president of the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday.
A petition signed by more than 600 faculty members had asked the school’s governing body to keep Gay in charge.
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.”
“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 Harvard Crimson student newspaper 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, Sally Kornbluth, who also testified before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a committee member who repeatedly asked the university presidents whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the schools’ rules, voiced her displeasure about the school’s decision on X, the social media platform.
“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.”
On the Harvard campus, the news about the decision came as students and teachers were rushing to classes. Gunduz Vassaf, a visiting professor in psychology, said he supports Gay.
“I fully support her testimony before Congress. I do believe that the situation has been taken out of context in the emotions of the immediate moment,” Vassaf said.
“As long as there’s no incitement and a call for violence, this falls within the freedom of speech,” he added.