Harvard University President Claudine Gay announced Tuesday afternoon that she will step aside, following new accusations of plagiarism. Her resignation comes just six months after she was appointed in the top job.
A letter from Gay, the university’s first Black president, that was posted on Harvard’s website read in part:
“It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president. This is not a decision I came to easily. Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great university across centuries. But, after consultation with members of the Corporation, it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.”
Gay’s departure follows heightened scrutiny of allegations that she plagiarized parts of some of her published works and in the wake of a controversial appearance before Congress last month.
At that Dec. 5 hearing, Gay, along with the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, struggled to provide clear answers when asked about their policies in cases where students advocate genocide against Jews. Penn’s president, Liz Magill, resigned after that testimony, but Harvard’s highest governing board initially rejected calls that Gay be removed.
In a statement Tuesday, Harvard’s governing board named Alan M. Garber, the university’s provost and chief academic officer, as interim president until a new leader is chosen.
“We thank President Gay for her deep and unwavering commitment to Harvard and to the pursuit of academic excellence,” said the statement from the Harvard Corporation. “While President Gay has acknowledged missteps and has taken responsibility for them, it is also true that she has shown remarkable resilience in the face of deeply personal and sustained attacks.”
On July 1, Gay became the 30th president of Harvard, and the second woman to hold the position.
Transcript:
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Harvard President Claudine Gay has resigned after just six months on the job. Today’s surprise announcement comes amid multiple allegations of plagiarism in her work. Gay is Harvard’s first Black president, and she’s also been under fire for her congressional testimony last month about antisemitism on campus. NPR’s Tovia Smith has been following the story and joins us now. And, Tovia, can you just catch us up on the latest here?
TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE: Well, this has certainly come as a surprise to a lot of people at Harvard. Backing up for a second – as you mentioned, Gay first started facing criticism for how she was handling complaints of campus antisemitism and for her testimony to members of Congress last month when she said that calls for genocide against Jews may or may not violate campus rules. But she still had the full support of Harvard’s governing board to stay in her job, unlike the University of Pennsylvania’s president, Liz McGill, who also testified and resigned under pressure. The third college president who testified from MIT is, so far, still holding on.
But the plagiarism allegations brought Gay’s case to a different level. As she noted in her resignation statement today, it was difficult beyond words, she said, and distressing to have doubts cast on not only her commitment to confronting hate, but also on her upholding scholarly rigor. Harvard did acknowledge the inadequate citations in some of her work, but still stood behind her until, it seems, the number of allegations apparently became too much. Gay said in her statement, it has become clear that it’s in the best interest of Harvard for her to resign so she wouldn’t be a distraction. And the board basically underscored that same idea in its own statement.
SUMMERS: Right. Tovia, so far, what kind of reaction have you been hearing to this news?
SMITH: Well, some of Gay’s harshest critics are certainly glad to hear the news. I spoke to Liora Rez, who’s executive director of the group StopAntisemitism, who says she welcomes the news.
LIORA REZ: We’re absolutely thrilled. Good riddance. And unfortunately, it took a supplemental issue to push this over the edge. The antisemitism factor should have been enough. However, it wasn’t, but we’ll take it.
SMITH: I’ll add that there were others who were calling for Gay’s ouster who were quick today to note that they see the problem of hate speech on campus as bigger than any one person. They see it as a much deeper cultural issue that needs to be addressed. And we heard that also today from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, whose questioning of President Gay in that hearing went viral. She said today on social media that her committee would continue its oversight of what she called the problems at Harvard and what she called the, quote, “woke agenda” and political bias at Harvard and at other schools.
SUMMERS: And, Tovia, what about Gay’s defenders? I mean, there were these petitions circulating among hundreds of faculty and students to keep her after the backlash to that testimony we were talking about. What have you heard from those folks?
SMITH: I’ll start by saying that many who opposed her ouster were less about defending her handling of the situation and her performance in Congress and more about resisting outside pressure on academic institutions. They bristled at the idea of donors threatening to pull their money and politicians inserting themselves into what’s going on on campus. So today, after Gay’s resignation, they called it a dangerous threat to their independence and to free and open inquiry on campuses. And I should say many of Gay’s defenders are pointing to the role of race in the ouster of Harvard’s first-ever Black president. Here’s how Ryan Enos, a government professor at Harvard, put it.
RYAN ENOS: If you don’t think race played a factor in that, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you, right? Because, you know, there’s a lot of university presidents, and none of them came under the scrutiny she did. And of course a lot of that is because she was the first Black president of Harvard, and of course race played a part in that.
SMITH: Gay herself alluded to this in her statement today, noting the personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus, as she put it. And Harvard’s board also pointed to what it called racist vitriol directed at Gay. But the board also praised her, quote, “remarkable resilience in the face of sustained attacks” and her “insight, decisiveness and empathy that are her hallmarks.” So now at Harvard, provost and chief academic officer Alan Garber will take over as interim president, and the delicate balancing act will continue over when protected free speech on campus crosses the line into the realm of unprotected hate speech or harassment. And whoever is the next permanent president will have to contend with that.
SUMMERS: NPR’s Tovia Smith, thank you.
SMITH: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF BADBADNOTGOOD AND GHOSTFACE KILLAH SONG, “STREET KNOWLEDGE”)
