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Harvard board backs university president amid anti-Semitism criticismClaudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, along with the presidents of other universities, failed to explicitly say that the calls for genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying and harassment on campus.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay during a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Reuters file photo)
Reuters
Washington,
UPDATED: Dec 12, 2023
Posted By: Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam
Harvard University's governing board declared its support for the Ivy League school's president on Tuesday, a day after meeting to weigh the public backlash following remarks she made at last week's congressional hearing on antisemitism.
The Harvard Corporation, the university's governing body, in a statement said it had reaffirmed its support for Harvard President Claudine Gay's continued leadership.
"Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing," the 11-member board wrote.
Its decision was first reported by the Harvard Crimson. A representative for Harvard on Monday did not respond to a request for comment on the board's reported meeting.
Some donors, alumni and members of Congress called for Gay to resign, as her fellow Ivy League president at University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, did over the weekend. But many faculty and other alumni have rushed to defend Gay and asked the governing body to do the same.
A House of Representatives hearing last week increased public outcry over how US colleges are handling campus protests since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Three university presidents declined to give a simple "yes" or "no" answer when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate school codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.
Gay, Magill and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told lawmakers context was important and they had to take free speech into consideration. Gay later apologised for her remarks in an interview with Harvard's student newspaper.
"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 Corporation wrote in its statement supporting Gay.
US university leaders have taken heat from both Jewish communities, which have said they are tolerating antisemitism, and Pro-Palestinian groups, which have accused schools of being neutral or antagonistic towards their cause.
Anna Esaki-Smith
Dec 12, 2023
Harvard President Claudine Gay will stay in office with the support of the university’s highest governing body, according to a statement made by the Harvard Corporation after the group met on Monday.
“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today affirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the statement read. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”
Harvard President Claudine Gay has come under fire after her testimony during a congressional
Gay faced tremendous backlash after her testimony before a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing last week regarding antisemitism on college campuses. The presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT also testified, and all three leaders faced calls to resign as they appeared to dodge questions about whether students should be disciplined if they call for the genocide of Jews.
After their testimony, more than 70 members of Congress demanded that the university leaders be removed, citing dissatisfaction with their performance. The White House condemned the university presidents after their testimony as well.
Penn President Elizabeth Magill resigned Saturday. Earlier, she had drawn intense criticism from donors and students after allowing a controversial Palestinian writers conference to be held on campus in September.
The executive committee of the MIT Corporation — the school’s governing board — declared their “full and unreserved support” for MIT President Sally Kornbluth in a statement last week.
In their statement, the Harvard Corporation voiced similar support for Gay as well.
“In this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay,” the statement read. “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.”
Protests have engulfed university campuses since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Earlier this month, pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied campus buildings at Cornell University. In early November, Cornell had cancelled a day of classes due to “extraordinary stress” after an engineering student was arrested on a federal criminal complaint for making online threats to Jewish students.
Columbia University also closed its campus for a day due to a wave of protests shortly after the Hamas attack. More recently, there were protests on campus after the school suspended 2 pro-Palestinian groups.
Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website.
Anna Esaki-SmithFollow
My book for high schoolers, Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go, It's What You Know, will be published by Rowman & Littlefield in April
Harvard University's governing board declared its support for the Ivy League school's president on Tuesday, a day after meeting to weigh the public backlash following remarks she made at last week's congressional hearing on antisemitism.
The Harvard Corporation, the university's governing body, in a statement said it had reaffirmed its support for Harvard President Claudine Gay's continued leadership.
"Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing," the 11-member board wrote.
Its decision was first reported by the Harvard Crimson. A representative for Harvard on Monday did not respond to a request for comment on the board's reported meeting.
Some donors, alumni and members of Congress called for Gay to resign, as her fellow Ivy League president at University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, did over the weekend. But many faculty and other alumni have rushed to defend Gay and asked the governing body to do the same.
A House of Representatives hearing last week increased public outcry over how US colleges are handling campus protests since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Three university presidents declined to give a simple "yes" or "no" answer when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate school codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.
Gay, Magill and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told lawmakers context was important and they had to take free speech into consideration. Gay later apologised for her remarks in an interview with Harvard's student newspaper.
"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 Corporation wrote in its statement supporting Gay.
US university leaders have taken heat from both Jewish communities, which have said they are tolerating antisemitism, and Pro-Palestinian groups, which have accused schools of being neutral or antagonistic towards their cause.
Harvard President Claudine Gay To Stay In Office
Anna Esaki-Smith
Dec 12, 2023
Harvard President Claudine Gay will stay in office with the support of the university’s highest governing body, according to a statement made by the Harvard Corporation after the group met on Monday.
“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today affirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the statement read. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”
Harvard President Claudine Gay has come under fire after her testimony during a congressional
Gay faced tremendous backlash after her testimony before a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing last week regarding antisemitism on college campuses. The presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT also testified, and all three leaders faced calls to resign as they appeared to dodge questions about whether students should be disciplined if they call for the genocide of Jews.
After their testimony, more than 70 members of Congress demanded that the university leaders be removed, citing dissatisfaction with their performance. The White House condemned the university presidents after their testimony as well.
Penn President Elizabeth Magill resigned Saturday. Earlier, she had drawn intense criticism from donors and students after allowing a controversial Palestinian writers conference to be held on campus in September.
The executive committee of the MIT Corporation — the school’s governing board — declared their “full and unreserved support” for MIT President Sally Kornbluth in a statement last week.
In their statement, the Harvard Corporation voiced similar support for Gay as well.
“In this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay,” the statement read. “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.”
Protests have engulfed university campuses since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Earlier this month, pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied campus buildings at Cornell University. In early November, Cornell had cancelled a day of classes due to “extraordinary stress” after an engineering student was arrested on a federal criminal complaint for making online threats to Jewish students.
Columbia University also closed its campus for a day due to a wave of protests shortly after the Hamas attack. More recently, there were protests on campus after the school suspended 2 pro-Palestinian groups.
Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website.
Anna Esaki-SmithFollow
My book for high schoolers, Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go, It's What You Know, will be published by Rowman & Littlefield in April
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