Harvard University announced Tuesday that embattled President Claudine Gay will keep her job — even after reportedly losing more than $1 billion in donations since her scathing congressional testimony about antisemitism.
Harvard Corporation – the university’s highest governing body – made its announcement Tuesday following an all-night discussion between Gay and university leaders, a source familiar with the decision told the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson.
“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for the continued leadership of President Gay at Harvard University. Our extensive discussions confirm our conviction that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and address the very serious societal issues we face,” the group said in a statement.
It acknowledged that the university should have issued an “immediate, direct and unequivocal condemnation” of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, stating “The call for genocide is despicable and contrary to human values” — in contrast to Gay’s testimony last week .
“President Gay has apologized for the way he handled his congressional testimony and committed to redoubling the university’s efforts against antisemitism,” the group wrote.
Regarding the accusation that Gay plagiarized much of his 1997 Ph.D. thesis in direct violation of Harvard’s academic integrity policy, the Harvard Corporation said officials became aware of the alleged plagiarism in late October and initiated an independent review.
“On December 9, Fellows reviewed the results, which revealed several examples of inadequate citations.
“Although the analysis found no violations of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct, President Gay proactively requested four corrections in two articles to include citations and quotation marks omitted from the original publication.”
However, the friends said, “In these chaotic and difficult times, we are unanimous in our support for President Gay.
Harvard University officials are expected to announce Tuesday that President Claudine Gay will retain her position. Boston Globe via Getty Images
“At Harvard, we champion open discourse and academic freedom, and we are united in our strong belief that calling for violence against our students and disruption of the classroom experience will not be tolerated.
“Harvard’s mission is to advance knowledge, research and discovery that will help address profound social issues and encourage constructive discourse, and we are confident that President Gay will lead Harvard forward toward achieving this important work,” he added.
It is not clear what led the board to make the controversial decision to ignore fervent calls for him to be fired after University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill lost her job over similar testimony that failed to denounce calls for genocide.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman claimed the board did not want to appear like it was simply bowing to his public demands for his removal.
“I’ve been told now by two reporters that one of the factors that caused the Harvard board to challenge to fire Gay was that they were worried it would look like they were bowing to me,” Ackman claimed of his public criticism and call for action..
“In other words, the reporter explained, quoting the trustee: ‘If only Bill had stopped tweeting, we would have had the right answer,'” he claimed.
“So much for ‘Veritas,'” he said, referring to the Latin word for “truth” that is part of Harvard’s motto.
AP
Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square, has made a name for himself as an outspoken critic of the Ivy League president who he accuses of failing to stamp out antisemitism on campus.
That escalated after Gay, Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth failed to denounce calls for the genocide of Jews at their school during fiery congressional hearings.
In addition to its tarnished reputation, Harvard has suffered staggering financial losses in the scandal, hedge funders claim.
“President Gay’s failure has resulted in billions of dollars in canceled, suspended and withdrawn donations to the university,” he wrote in a letter to the school’s board on Sunday. which he also posted online.
“I am personally aware of more than a billion dollars in endowments from a small group of Harvard’s most generous Jewish and non-Jewish alumni.
Calls for Gay have increased since he failed to denounce calls for genocide against the Jews. X / @AccuracyInMedia
“I have been copied and blind copied on numerous letters and emails to the university from alumni who have written scathing letters to Gay and/or the board of directors, issuing donations,” Ackman claimed.
He went on to accuse Gay of “doing more damage to Harvard’s reputation than anyone in the history of the university.”
Ackman also previously claimed Gay was hired as president because of the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative — and shared accusations that the university president plagiarized much of his 1997 Ph.D. thesis directly violates Harvard’s policy of academic integrity.
Still, the Executive Committee of the Harvard University Alumni Association said on Monday it would support it.
“President Gay is the right leader to guide the University through these challenging times,” the group wrote in a letter obtained by the Harvard Crimson.
Billionaire Bill Ackman claims the university has lost more than $1 billion in donations since Gay’s testimony last week. @RepStefanik / X
“He was thinking. He is good. He is deeply dedicated to the growth and well-being of our incredibly diverse community.
“We are aware that there were frustrations in his testimony last week,” the letter continued.
“President Gay has stated this and apologized for any pain his testimony caused – a powerful demonstration of his integrity, determination and courage.”
The Harvard Corporation issued its own letter saying Gay would oppose antisemitism and Islamophobia. Harvard College PSC
The Post has reached out to Harvard for comment.
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