Harvard President To Keep Her Job After Controversial House Testimony

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Harvard University has decided to stand by its president, Claudine Gay, as she faces continued backlash following her testimony on antisemitism before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce earlier this month.

During the Dec. 5 testimony, Gay and her counterparts at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shied away from answering whether students calling for the genocide of Jews were breaking the code of conduct at Harvard, instead saying that the university 'embraces a commitment to free expression' unless it 'crosses into conduct that violates policies against bullying, harassment, intimidation.'

In a letter shared Tuesday, members of the Harvard Corporation said that while "calls for genocide are despicable and contrary to fundamental human values," they decided to reaffirm Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University.

"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 corporation said.

The statement continued: "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. 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."

Following Gay's testimony, more than 70 members of Congress called for her to resign as Harvard's president, according to The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper. As of Monday, more than 700 Harvard faculty had signed a letter to the Harvard Corporation urging the school's governing body to resist these calls to remove Gay.

Speculation over Gay’s future at the school grew after University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill, who received similar backlash after testifying alongside Gay, stepped down at a Board of Trustees meeting Saturday.

In its letter Tuesday, the Harvard Corporation also addressed allegations that surfaced in October of plagiarism concerning three of Gay's academic articles.

"At President Gay’s request, the Fellows promptly initiated an independent review by distinguished political scientists and conducted a review of her published work," the letter said. "On Dec. 9, the Fellows reviewed the results, which revealed 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."

As the letter wrapped up, the fellows reiterated that Harvard aims to "champion open discourse and academic freedom" and that they are "united in our strong belief that calls for violence against our students and disruptions of the classroom experience will not be tolerated."

"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," the letter concluded.