Harvard University president Claudine Gay faced increased calls to resign Monday, Dec. 11, as outrage grew over her perceived failure to address growing anti-Semitism on the Ivy League campus, while the uproar has led to new allegations that she plagiarized major sections of her Ph.D. dissertation while pursuing her doctorate from the college 26 years ago.
The paper “Taking Charge: Black Electoral Success and the Redefinition of American Politics” was penned by Gay in 1997 as part of Harvard’s requirement for her Ph.D. in political science, which she received in 1998.
The new scrutiny surrounding Gay comes as she and other college presidents faced a firestorm of criticism this past week as lawmakers and conservative advocates accused the schools of not enforcing codes of conduct as some students had called for the killing of Jews amid the Israel-Hamas war.
University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill has resigned since last week’s congressional hearings to address whether Ivy League policy leaders were being too soft on inflammatory rhetoric amid an explosive campus atmosphere that challenged the limits of free speech.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth and American University professor Pamela Nadell were also grilled by lawmakers last week alongside Gay and Magill, but it was Gay who appeared to be the primary target of Republicans who sought to slam her leadership after less than six months on the job.
After the hearing, each of the educators was heavily criticized for not answering directly when Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York asked if they condemned speech that called for the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jews. Instead, the academic leaders cited scripted policies on harassment and bullying before they eventually denounced anti-Semitism, leading to even louder calls for their resignations.
Meanwhile, 511 faculty members at Harvard have signed a letter of support for Gay, saying she…
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