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CAMBRIDGE, Mass (WBZ NewsRadio) — Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain in her job after receiving unanimous support from a university oversight board Tuesday.
In a statement, the board writes it believes Gay is the right person to help the university heal and address the "very serious societal issues" faced by the school at this time.
"At Harvard, we champion open discourse and academic freedom, and we are united in our strong belief that calls for violence against our students and disruptions of the classroom experience will not be tolerated," the statement reads. "Harvard’s mission is advancing knowledge, research, and discovery that will help address deep societal issues and promote constructive discourse, and we are confident that President Gay will lead Harvard forward toward accomplishing this vital work."
The decision comes just a week after Gay testified during a congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. During the hearing Rep. Elise Stefanik questioned Gay about if calling for the genocide of Jewish people violated the university's rules of bullying and harassment, Gay responded saying "it can be, depending on the context."
Gay later apologized for her comments during an interview with The Crimson. In the letter supporting Gay, the university's fellows highlighted Gay's apology and added that she committed to "redoubling the University’s fight against antisemitism." The board also said the university should have done a better job responding to the initial attack by Hamas—the school faced backlash for its initial response.
"So many people have suffered tremendous damage and pain because of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack, and the University’s initial statement should have been an immediate, direct, and unequivocal condemnation," the statement reads. "Calls for genocide are despicable and contrary to fundamental human values."
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Many people, including Rep. Stefanik, called for Gay to resign after the hearing. Prior to this decision by the university hundreds of Harvard faculty members signed a letter supporting Gay. University of Pennslyvannia President Liz Magill, who also testified alongside Gay, and Board of Trustees Chairman Scott Bok announced their resignations shortly after the hearing. MIT President Sally Kornbluth also testified and has faced similar calls to resign, but MIT released a similar statement in support of her.
Harvard also responded to allegations of plagiarism lobbied against Gay by a right-wing activist on X. In the statement, the fellows wrote Gay requested an independent review by "distinguished political scientists" who went over all of her work.
"On December 9, the Fellows reviewed the results, which revealed a few instances of inadequate citation," the statement reads. "While the analysis found no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct, President Gay is proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications."
WBZ's Drew Moholland (@DrewWBZ) reports.
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