Former President Barack Obama has secretly lobbied Harvard University officials to stick with embattled President Claudine Gay as she faces pressure to resign for harboring antisemitism on campus and for plagiarism.
Obama, 62, a 1991 graduate of Harvard law school, privately urged the university to allow Gay to remain in office after he testified on December 5 before the House Education and Workforce Committee that he called the genocide of Jews possible in under the school code regarding conduct, depends on “context,” according to a report on Friday.
“It sounds like people are being asked to close ranks to keep the broader administration stable — including its composition,” a source told Jewish Insider about the former president’s secretive efforts.
Former President Barack Obama has quietly pushed for Harvard University to retain embattled President Claudine Gay as she faces pressure to resign for harboring antisemitism. Getty Images Obama, 62, who is a Harvard graduate, personally urged the university to let Gay remain president after he said calls for the genocide of Jews might be justified, depending on “context.” Reuters
The report did not say whether the effort continued after Gay’s scholarship was called into question following his testimony to dozens of instances of alleged plagiarism.
A spokeswoman for Obama did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harvard declined to comment on the matter to Jewish Insider.
Gay’s fate rests partly in the hands of former Obama Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, a member of a prominent Chicago family — her brother is Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — who serves as a senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the university’s top governing body that recently investigated the president’s academic publications for evidence of plagiarism .
Gay previously told the Boston Globe in a statement, “I stand by the integrity of my scholarship. Throughout my career, I have strived to ensure that my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards.”
Gay’s fate also rests in the hands of former Obama commerce secretary Penny Pritzker, who serves as a senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the university’s highest governing body. Harvard Gazette
On Wednesday, Harvard announced that “examples of duplicate language without appropriate attribution” were found in Gay’s 1997 doctoral dissertation following a review by a four-person Corporation subcommittee.
A separate review by a three-person independent panel also commissioned by the Harvard Corporation determined that no other inappropriate citations were found in “all other published works of the Gay President.”
The same day, the House Education Committee sent a letter to Pritzker demanding the university turn over internal records on its handling of the scandal after launching a preliminary investigation into antisemitism at Harvard.
Gay previously told the Boston Globe: “I stand by the integrity of my scholarship. Throughout my career, I have strived to ensure that my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards.” Boston Globe via Getty Images
“If a university is willing to look the other way and not hold faculty accountable for engaging in academically dishonest behavior, it diminishes its educational mission and value,” wrote the panel’s chairman, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC).
“Students must be evaluated fairly, under known standards – and have the right to see that faculty as well.”
During the trial, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) criticized Gay, Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth and then-University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill for refusing to denounce antisemitic protests on their campuses.
During the Dec. 5 hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has grilled Gay, Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth and University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill. Reuters
Each emphasized that antisemitic speech — including calls for the genocide of Jews — does not necessarily violate university policy and depends on the context.
Magill resigned a week after the trial, while Gay and Kornbluth remained in their positions.
Pritzker, a 1981 Harvard graduate, was named a senior fellow of the Corporation in 2022 after donating $100 million to the university — and he led the search committee that appointed Gay as the school’s new president last year.
In announcing the selection in December 2022, he praised Gay as “an extraordinary leader who is deeply committed to maintaining and enhancing Harvard’s academic excellence.”
Each president emphasized that antisemitic speech — including calls for the genocide of Jews — does not necessarily violate university policy and depends on the context. Reuters
Following new plagiarism allegations against the president this week, many scholars have called for Gay’s resignation in addition to those who called for it after his congressional hearings — including a professor whose work the Harvard president allegedly plagiarized.
“Fire Claudine Gay in a hurry,” Vanderbilt University political science professor Carol Swain said Thursday at X. “She can be relieved of her duties until terms are negotiated. Hire the best man or woman who can steer the university back to sanity.”
Swain said Gay retracted portions of a book he published in 1993 and an article he wrote in 1997 without proper attribution.
Following new plagiarism allegations against the president this week, many scholars have called for Gay’s resignation in addition to those who called for it after his congressional hearings. Adam Guillette / Accuracy in Media
New York Times columnist and Columbia University linguistics professor John McWhorter has also called on Gay to step down, saying more than 40 instances of improper attribution in his scholarly work “make it untenable for him to remain in office.”
Pritzker has yet to publicly weigh in on the controversy, but Harvard Corporation board members said in a Dec. 12 statement that they “reaffirmed” their support for Gay’s leadership.
“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 board said.
However, billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin told the New York Times that Pritzker, who is Jewish, personally agreed that Harvard’s response to the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 was mild and that a statement should be issued in solidarity with Israel.
Meanwhile, supporters of the school have halted hundreds of millions of dollars in donations over Gay’s decision to support a student group that blames the Jewish state for Hamas atrocities.
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