Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned earlier last month after pressure from the public and Harvard’s board for allegations of plagiarism and controversy over her testimony at a congressional hearing on antisemitism.
Gay’s six-month term is the shortest in Harvard’s 388-year history. She was the first black woman to ever lead the institution.
At the hearing, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology appeared alongside Gay. They were pressured on the topic of antisemitism on their campuses.
In response to the question “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment?” Gay responded with “It can be, depending on the context.”
UPenn President Liz Magill resigned a few days after the panel.
This sparked calls for the resignation of Gay, but her job seemed to be secure Dec. 12 when the Harvard Corporation released a statement to “reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University.”
After the panel, millionaire donors to Harvard began halting their donations over disappointment at Harvard and Gay’s response to antisemitism. The charge for her removal was mostly led by conservative activists who said she was a “diversity hire.”
Gay finally resigned earlier last month after weeks of contention.
When Gay’s resignation was announced, the public took to social media to respond. Instead of taking into account Harvard’s appalling and lackluster response to antisemitism, people began to say the reason that Gay was fired was because she was a black woman. Nothing else.
Eden Getahun and Aimee Howard who are members of the Association of Black Harvard Women, but are not speaking for the organization said that the situation was “disappointing” and a reminder that no matter how well they do, black women will always be scrutinized and undermined.
Obviously it may be extremely disappointing for people to see Gay ousted after such a short term, but Gay was not removed for her race. She was removed because of her appalling response to keeping Jewish students safe on campus.
It’s no secret that Gay faced racism–and still continues to–during her term as president. Conservatives practically went on a witch hunt to find examples of plagiarism in Gay’s work in order to get her ousted from the presidency.
Since Dec. 5 (the date of the hearing of antisemitism), she has received countless death threats and been called the n-word– according to Gay, “more times than I care to count.” This behavior is absolutely unacceptable and nobody deserves to be treated this way.
This treatment of one of the leaders of African-Americans in academia is absolutely disgusting. These attacks must be extremely hard for people, especially the black community to see, and I understand that black people have, and still continue to be, undermined in academic spaces, but I think saying that is the biggest reason for her departure is false.
These attacks against Gay’s race and character are clear examples of bigotry. But still, Gay’s response to the growing number of antisemitic instances throughout college campuses and beyond cannot be ignored.
Furthermore, we also cannot ignore the growing number of anti-Arab crimes and rallies over the past few months. Anti-Arab hate crimes have risen 180% since Oct. 7. Both anti-Arab and antisemitic ideologies are completely unacceptable and should not be present anywhere, including on any college campus.
Gay did apologize for her words telling the Harvard Crimson, “when words amplify distress and pain, I don’t know how you could feel anything but regret.”
But still, she was not quick enough to denounce Hamas attacks on Jewish civilians, and was not quick enough to criticize Pro-Palestinian groups at Harvard who said they held Israel as “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
The history of the Israel-Palestine conflict is so widespread and complicated that blaming the conflict on any one group is absolutely absurd. Both communities deserve peace and have a right to a nation.
Although personally I do not believe Gay is antisemitic, if your response to antisemitism is anything but absolute disgust, you should not be the president of Harvard.
Gay was not forced to resign because of racism against her, this issue is much bigger than her. This issue involves the entire history of the Jewish community, the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and the instilled ideas of antisemitism still prevalent across America.
Racism and bigotry is wrong in any shape or form. Justifying the hate of Jews to advocate for Palestine will not stop hate or help the situation in Gaza, it will only amplify it.
