The various controversies ultimately got the better of his position. The president of the prestigious American university Harvard, Claudine Gay, announced Tuesday that she was resigning, after accusations of plagiarism and a tense hearing in Congress on the fight against anti-Semitism on campuses.
“It is with a heavy heart but with a deep love for Harvard that I write to you to announce that I will be stepping down as president,” Claudine Gay said in a resignation letter published Tuesday.
Claudine Gay denounces threats and racism
Aged 53, this political science professor who became the first black president of Harvard University in July has been under fire in recent weeks. She was targeted by accusations of plagiarism linked to her university work, fueled by a conservative site, and by criticism linked to her responses, during a parliamentary hearing on the fight against anti-Semitism on campuses, to the elected official Republican Elise Stefanik, who likened the calls of some students for the “Intifada” to incitement to “genocide against Jews in Israel and around the world”.
“It has been complicated to see doubt hover over my commitments to confronting hatred and respecting academic rigor… and frightening to be the subject of personal attacks and threats fueled by racism,” he said. she explained in her letter.
She becomes the second president of the Ivy League – which brings together eight very prestigious universities – to resign. In December, Elizabeth Magill, the president of UPenn (Philadelphia), also criticized for her comments during the same hearing, resigned.
More than 70 parliamentarians, including two Democrats, as well as former students and renowned donors had called for the departure of Claudine Gay. The president, however, received the support of the educational community and was retained in her position in mid-December. His presidency was the shortest in the history of the university founded in 1636.