Harvard University President Claudine Gay’s resignation over plagiarism will be “just the beginning of the reckoning,” House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik told The Post Tuesday — vowing that Republicans will undertake a “long overdue” cleanup of the “institutional rot” of higher education.
“The Harvard Corporation should have forced this resignation right after the congressional hearing just a month ago, but they failed and it became clear … that his presidency was untenable,” said Stefanik, a 2006 graduate of Harvard College.
Stefanik (R-NY) added that the Harvard president, who announced in a statement that he will step down from his leadership position, but will remain on the Ivy League school’s faculty, has been “disgraceful” during his short tenure, “whether it is his failure to protecting Jewish students or simply shredding academic integrity in the university’s attempt to cover up nearly 50 cases of plagiarism.”
“I graduated from Harvard; it was previously the most prestigious institution of higher learning in the world. That was a long time ago,” Stefanik continued.
Last month, Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee launched an investigation into Harvard and other elite universities over their handling of recent antisemitic incidents on campus following damning testimony by Gay, then-Penn President Liz Magill and MIT President Sally Kornbluth.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (NY) said Harvard University President Claudine Gay’s resignation over alleged plagiarism is “just the beginning of the reckoning.” CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images House Republicans will now undertake a “long overdue” cleanup of the Ivy League’s “institutional rot,” Stefanik said. Reuters
Stefanik said the effort will “continue apace.”
“Billions of taxpayer dollars go to these institutions,” he said. “And not only do you have Jewish students being attacked and physically harassed on campus, but you have many in this DEI office. [diversity, equity and inclusion] which is antisemitic by definition.
“And I believe the investigation will reveal what will be the biggest scandal in the history of the college and university.”
Harvard President Claudine Gay resigns
Claudine Gay resigned on Jan. 2. AP
Here’s how we got here:
The antisemitism probe, and another into what Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) called “credible plagiarism allegations” against Gay, has already begun with requests for internal documents and threats of subpoenas if the university doesn’t comply with it.
“I graduated from Harvard; it was previously the most prestigious institution of higher learning in the world. That was a long time ago,” Stefanik said. David McGlynn “I work with Chairman Virginia Foxx. We are really focused on document requests, and we will not hesitate to use subpoenas,” Stefanik said of the House panel’s university investigation. AP
Stefanik pointed out that “hundreds of Jewish students” have contacted Harvard’s DEI office about “the rise of antisemitic slurs” and “antisemitic actions on campus” but have received no response.
“I work with Chairman Virginia Foxx. We are really focused on document requests, and we will not hesitate to use subpoenas,” he said.
“They can’t live by a different set of rules because they happen to be on Harvard’s board of directors. They need to respond to the United States Congress through legislation — and especially because billions of US taxpayer dollars go to fund these institutions.”
“This is just the beginning of the reckoning. This is long overdue,” he added.
“This is just the beginning of the reckoning. This is long overdue,” Stefanik said of the House Education and Workforce Committee’s investigation into antisemitism on campus and Gay plagiarism. Reuters
Stefanik made headlines on Dec. 5 when he grilled Gay, Magill and Kornbluth during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing about incidents of antisemitic harassment on their campuses,
In an exchange that has since been viewed millions of times, Stefanik asked each whether anti-Israel students who called for the genocide of Jews in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack violated their university’s code of conduct related to bullying and harassment. .
Gay and others declined to give a yes-or-no answer to that question, stressing that the speech would depend on “context” and would only warrant action if it rose to the level of bullying, harassment and intimidation.
Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and MIT President Sally Kornbluth declined to give a yes-or-no answer to the question of whether students could call for the genocide of Jews. Getty Images
Magill resigned on December 9, four days after the damning testimony, but Gay survived the initial blow. However, his tenure as Harvard president did not survive a second scandal – this time regarding him lifting quotes from other scholars without attribution to his academic work since his doctoral dissertation.
“Like I said, after Penn’s president resigned, ‘One down, two to go.’ Now we’re at, ‘Two down, one more,’” Stefanik said. “They have lost their moral clarity by now delivering the most morally bankrupt testimony in the history of Congress.”
That “moral bankruptcy,” he claimed, continued to the top at Harvard, where the university’s governing body chose to retain Gay — reportedly under pressure to do so from high-profile figures like former President Barack Obama, a 1991 Harvard Law graduate.
“Not only did they let it fester, they covered it up. And it is a fiduciary responsibility when you serve on the governing board of this institution,” Stefanik said.
“What’s also troubling is that the executive search for a Harvard president was the shortest when they chose Claudine Gay,” Stefanik said. TNS
“And in the case of Harvard, we now know that the Harvard Corporation was aware of a credible accusation of plagiarism and instead of dealing with it, they threatened to sue the media,” he said, referring to threats The Post received from lawyers hired by the university after comment was sought on allegations that Gay have stolen the work of other academics.
“What’s also troubling is that the executive search for a Harvard president was the shortest when they chose Claudine Gay. And the individual leading that is Penny Pritzker, a former Obama Cabinet official,” Stefanik continued. “We also know that Obama himself called for pressuring the Harvard Corporation to retain Claudine Gay.
“The radical left on this board is making this political, and what they’re doing is, they’re completely destroying their academic integrity and they’re completely destroying their moral leadership and their brand name around the world.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
