Claudine Gay ― the Harvard University president who introduced her resignation this week amid a right-wing marketing campaign accusing her of antisemitism and plagiarism ― stated Thursday that her ouster is a part of a “broader war” to undermine public religion within the “pillars of American society” like academia.
Gay, who was Harvard’s first Black president and in addition serves as a professor of presidency and African American research, penned an op-ed in The New York Times two days after she despatched a letter to the Harvard group saying she would step down as president and stay a part of the college.
“For weeks, both I and the institution to which I’ve devoted my professional life have been under attack,” she wrote within the Times. “My character and intelligence have been impugned. My commitment to fighting antisemitism has been questioned. My inbox has been flooded with invective, including death threats. I’ve been called the N-word more times than I care to count.”
“My hope is that by stepping down I will deny demagogues the opportunity to further weaponize my presidency in their campaign to undermine the ideals animating Harvard since its founding: excellence, openness, independence, truth,” she continued.
Gay’s resignation got here after weeks of stress on the college to punish the president for in a roundabout way answering a query from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) about whether or not calls on campus for the genocide of Jewish college students ― and even the usage of controversial pro-Palestinian expressions like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” ― would violate Harvard’s guidelines.
Gay, together with two different college presidents, stated in a congressional listening to that the acceptability of any on-campus speech concerning the violence in Gaza would rely on the context. The remarks by the varied presidents drew a right away firestorm of criticism.
In her op-ed, Gay acknowledged that she has “made mistakes,” citing her preliminary response to the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas militants towards Israel. She wrote that in the course of the congressional listening to, she ought to have condemned antisemitic habits extra forcefully. The Harvard Corporation, the varsity’s governing board, supported Gay in the course of the controversy by saying she was defending the college’s educational freedom.
More not too long ago, Gay ― who was president for lower than a yr ― got here underneath hearth after right-wing voices accused her of plagiarizing different students in her personal peer-reviewed educational writings on the importance of individuals from marginalized communities holding workplace in American politics.
According to Gay, her analysis discovered that “when historically marginalized communities gain a meaningful voice in the halls of power, it signals an open door where before many saw only barriers,” leading to a strengthened democracy.
Harvard acknowledged some cases of insufficient quotation in Gay’s work, however stated that she rapidly corrected them. Gay stated the method of correcting duplications was “consistent with how I have seen similar faculty cases handled at Harvard.”
“I have never misrepresented my research findings, nor have I ever claimed credit for the research of others,” she wrote on Thursday. “Moreover, the citation errors should not obscure a fundamental truth: I proudly stand by my work and its impact on the field.”
The resignation makes Gay’s tenure the shortest of any Harvard president, and comes at a time when educational establishments more and more face threats of censorship from largely right-wing figures who search to stifle speech from individuals who come from marginalized backgrounds.
“It is not lost on me that I make an ideal canvas for projecting every anxiety about the generational and demographic changes unfolding on American campuses: a Black woman selected to lead a storied institution,” Gay wrote. She urged the general public to be “more skeptical than ever of the loudest and most extreme voices in our culture.”
The outgoing president additionally stated that the marketing campaign to push her out of her position was “merely a single skirmish in a broader war to unravel public faith in pillars of American society.”
“Campaigns of this kind often start with attacks on education and expertise, because these are the tools that best equip communities to see through propaganda,” she wrote. “But such campaigns don’t end there. Trusted institutions of all types ― from public health agencies to news organizations ― will continue to fall victim to coordinated attempts to undermine their legitimacy and ruin their leaders’ credibility.”
You can learn Gay’s full op-ed right here.
