Jewish organizations and Harvard students hailed the resignation of former Harvard president Claudine Gay on Tuesday following allegations of plagiarism and her mishandling of antisemitism on campus.
The Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance, which represents thousands of former Jewish students, said Gay’s resignation concluded an “unfortunate chapter” in the nearly 400-year history of the prestigious Ivy League school.
“In her repeated failure to denounce calls for complete and utter extermination of Jews, Claudine Gay tacitly encourages those who seek to spread hatred at Harvard, where many Jews no longer feel safe to study, identify and participate fully in the community Harvard,” spokeswoman Roni Brunn said in a statement.
Brunn said the organization hopes the next president will take “decisive action” to combat antisemitism on campus to return Harvard “to its roots as a world-renowned center of learning and research rooted in civil discourse and academic integrity.”
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a Jewish activist who served 15 years as a trustee on the board of trustees of the City University of New York, took a more somber view, saying Gay’s resignation only came after multiple accusations of plagiarism and not “for calling for genocide to Jews by protesters on his campus.”
Jewish students hailed Gay’s resignation. Reuters
“It’s like they didn’t get Al Capone for murder. They got it for tax evasion,” Wiesenfeld told The Post, referring to the notorious gangster.
Harvard Provost, Dr. Alan Garber, will serve as interim president, the university announced. Gay, a professor of Political Science since 2006, will remain on the faculty.
Alex Bernat, a junior at Harvard, told The Boston Globe he was optimistic that Gay’s resignation would help the school begin to address broader issues of antisemitism and academic integrity at the university.
The Jewish student said he had spoken with Garber, who was raised Jewish and he believed might “have a better understanding of what antisemitism is.”
“The next question we have to ask is how someone with such a poor scholarship record was elected president of Harvard,” Bernat told the newspaper.
Some are cautiously optimistic that Harvard will now take antisemitism more seriously. David McGlynn
Days before Gay’s resignation, an article written by Harvard student opinion writers Brooks B. Anderson and Joshua A. Kaplan also called for his resignation on the campus website The Harvard Crimson.
After listing the qualities a Harvard president should possess, they wrote: “In each of these respects, Gay has failed. Harvard Corporation must find leaders who can do better.
Sacha Roytman Dratwa, CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), said Gay’s resignation was “the first good decision made by Mrs. Gay and the Harvard Corporation” since several antisemitic incidents erupted on campus following the October 7 Hamas attack. Israel.
Gay is the shortest-serving President in Harvard’s nearly 400-year history. David McGlynn
“Harvard must address its antisemitism problem now, not only to protect its community but also to set the tone for its next president,” Dratwa said. He also urged Harvard to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism as a guide for “evaluating antisemitic incidents.”
Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said Gay made “the right decision” but it “should have happened sooner.”
“There is clearly a lack of leadership. His resignation is justified,” he said.
Wiesenfeld and others tip their hats to Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alumna who burned Gay when she testified before Congress regarding alleged antisemitism.
Stefanik, the House GOP Conference Chairman, on Tuesday vowed that Gay’s resignation was “just the beginning of the reckoning.”
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a Jewish activist who served 15 years as a trustee on the City University of New York’s board of governors, said Gay was ultimately undone by plagiarism — not his lack of response to campus antisemitism. AP
He called Gay’s brief six-month tenure “disgraceful” for his “failure to protect Jewish students or simply tear apart academic integrity in the university’s attempt to cover up his nearly 50 cases of plagiarism.”
Stefanik said Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee will continue its investigation into antisemitic incidents on college campuses.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NY), who chairs the committee, told The Boston Globe that an investigation into the plagiarism allegations will also continue, telling the newspaper in a statement that “the problem at Harvard is much bigger than one leader.”
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