The first black President of Harvard University resigned on Tuesday following criticism over allegations of plagiarism and her handling of anti-Semitism on campus. The announcement of her resignation was made by the esteemed U.S. University’s student newspaper.
Claudine Gay had been under fire in recent months, in the wake of revelations that she had improperly used academic sources in her work. Her presidency was the shortest in the history of the university.
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 05
Gay was also embroiled in controversy last month when she testified before Congress with the presidents of MIT and Pennsylvania. She refused to state categorically whether or not advocating for the extermination of Jews was against Harvard's code of conduct.
After her appearance before Congress, the Harvard Corporation, which oversees the institution, supported her; however, as the campus community responded to the Gaza war, they took issue with her response to the October 7 incident in Israel.
In addition to a number of prominent Harvard alums and contributors, more than 70 lawmakers, including two Democrats, called for her resignation.
Still, a letter endorsing Gay had been signed by almost 700 Harvard faculty members.
Gay, 53, is a political science professor who was born in New York to Haitian immigrants. In July, she was elected as Harvard University's first Black president, making history at the 368-year-old university in Cambridge, outside of Boston.
