Harvard president Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school following her comments last week at a congressional hearing on antisemitism
It follows mounting pressure on Dr Gay to step down after she suggested it would depend on the context whether or not calling for the “genocide of Jews” would be classed as breaking university rules on bullying and harassment.
The Harvard Corporation, the university’s governing body, reaffirmed its support for Dr Gay’s continued leadership in a statement following a meeting on Monday night.
“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 Harvard Corporation said.
Dr Gay and two of her peers struggled to answer questions about campus antisemitism during the House of Representatives hearing.
The university presidents declined to answer “yes” or “no” when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate school codes of conduct on bullying and harassment.
They told lawmakers context was important and they had to take free speech into consideration.
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Their responses went viral and sparked criticism from some members of Congress, donors and alumni who said the university leaders were failing to stand up for Jewish students on their campuses.
But a number of faculty and other alumni rushed to defend Dr Gay. A petition signed by more than 600 faculty members asked the school’s governing body to keep her in charge.
Dr Gay apologised for her remarks in an interview with the Harvard Crimson student newspaper, saying she had failed to properly denounce threats of violence against Jewish students.
“What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community – threats to our Jewish students – have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged,” Dr Gay said.
President of the University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, who was among those to testify at the hearing, stepped down on Saturday.
The controversy comes amid concern over reports of an uptick in antisemitism and Islamophobia at universities – and wider society – amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Dr Gay became Harvard’s first black president in July.
