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Harvard President resigns amid antisemitism, plagiarism scandals

Claudine Gay’s term was the shortest of any president in Harvard University’s history and lasted only 6 months and 2 days.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Claudine Gay has resigned from her position as the president of Harvard University, a source close to the matter told the Harvard Crimson on Tuesday.

Hers was the shortest term of any president in Harvard University’s history and lasted only 6 months and 2 days.

The Harvard Crimson reported that Gay’s resignation came “amid growing allegations of plagiarism and lasting doubts over her ability to respond to antisemitism on campus after her disastrous congressional testimony Dec. 5.”

Harvard spokesperson  Jonathan L. Swain declined to comment on Claudine Gay’s resignation.

The position of president will be filled temporarily by university Provost Alan M. Garber until a new candidate is selected.

The Harvard publication further described Gay’s beleaguered presidency, “Gay weathered scandal after scandal over her brief tenure, facing national backlash for her administration’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and allegations of plagiarism in her scholarly work.”

The announcement was made through an email by the Harvard Corporation — the University’s highest governing body.

Claudine Gay has yet to announce her resignation personally and is expected to do so by email later on Tuesday.

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The announcement that the president of Harvard is stepping down follows the resignation last month of University of Pennsylvania president Elizabeth Magill following the highly-criticized congressional hearing on campus antisemitism.

Along with Gay and Magill, Sally Kornbluth of MIT was questioned by Republican congresswoman and Harvard alumna Elise Stefanik on whether calls for genocide against Jews violated the universities’ code of ethics.

Each of the college presidents avoided answering the question directly and indicated that it depended on the context.

The three college presidents were strongly condemned by the public for refusing to say that threatening violence against Jews was not against the code of conduct at their institutions.

Although Magill and Gay both attempted to walk back their answers, with Magill releasing a video acknowledging the evils of antisemitism and Gay saying calls for Jewish genocide were “personally abhorrent,” Magill shortly after announced her resignation and Gay continued to be investigated for additional scandals.

In the ensuing weeks, allegations came to light that Claudine Gay plagiarized her scholarly work on several occasions.

The Harvard President received the support of faculty and the Harvard Corporation immediately following the congressional hearings, although new allegations of plagiarism continued to surface up to the day before her resignation.