New York (CNN) — Harvard University President Claudine Gay has drawn national attention over her contentious comments on Capitol Hill a week ago about antisemitism on campus. Many donors, politicians and business leaders demanded her resignation, but Harvard’s board, faculty and alumni have come to her defense.
Gay was inaugurated as Harvard president in late September to great fanfare. She is the first person of color, and the first Black woman, to serve as president of the America’s oldest institution of higher learning, making her ascent nothing short of groundbreaking.
“As a woman of color, as a daughter of immigrants, if my presence in this role affirms someone’s sense of belonging at Harvard, that is a great honor. And for those who are beyond our gates, if this prompts them to look anew at Harvard, to consider new possibilities for themselves and their futures, then my appointment will have meaning for me that goes beyond words,” Gay said in a December 2022 video announcing her appointment.
A lifelong academic with a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a doctorate from Harvard, Gay appeared destined to reach the pinnacle of higher education.
But Gay suffered immense reputational damage last week at a consequential December 5 hearing before a House committee. Gay struggled to answer questions about whether calls for genocide against Jews would violate Harvard’s code of conduct. She and other university presidents failed to explicitly say calls for genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying and harassment on campus.
Gay would later apologize for the poor wording in the testimony, which was echoed by former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, who resigned Saturday, and MIT President Sally Kornbluth, who has not faced any serious repercussions.
“I got caught up in what had become at that point, an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures,” Gay told Harvard’s student newspaper. “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.”
The Harvard Corporation, the university’s top governance board, announced Tuesday morning that Gay has gained the unanimous support of the board, giving Gay significant cover to remain in her position after a tumultuous week.
A storied career
A native New Yorker, Gay, 53, is the daughter of two Haitian immigrants. Her father was a civil engineer who worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers. Her mother worked as a nurse. Part of Gay’s childhood was spent in Saudi Arabia due to her father’s job, according to the Harvard Gazette, the official news site for the university.
She received her education at some of the country’s most elite institutions. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a private boarding school in New Hampshire and a feeder to the Ivy Leagues. Gay has served as a trustee at the school.
Gay then attended Princeton before transferring to Stanford University, graduating in 1992 with an economics degree. She then went to Harvard, where she received a doctorate in government in 1998.
“The moment that led me to academia probably was the experience, as an undergrad, of being a research assistant for the King Papers project at Stanford with Clay Carson and Stewart Burns. That was probably the single moment where I realized there’s a path available to me other than being a lawyer, or a doctor, or an engineer,” Gay said in a YouTube video.
Gay is first cousins with acclaimed author and New York Times contributing opinion writer Roxane Gay. In an interview with the Harvard Crimson, Roxane said her cousin is “very resolute and badass and confident of her place in the world.”
Gay’s sterling resume includes a laundry list of positions and fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, along with a Hartley Fellow at the Washington, DC-based Brookings Institute. She was an assistant professor of political science at Stanford from 2000 to 2005, and was a tenured associate professor there in 2005 and 2006. Gay returned to Harvard in 2006 as professor of government, and also a professor of African and African American Studies in 2007.
She later served as Edgerley Family Dean of Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies. Gay served as Harvard’s dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences through the pandemic, led the department to review its tenure process and launched a new PhD program in quantum science and engineering.
Under her tenure at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at least four professors faced repercussions, from a sanction to stripping of emeritus status, for sexual misconduct claims.
Her scholarship on American political behavior and minority politics is extensive, and Gay is a well-known expert on the intersections of politics and race, according to the Harvard Gazette. Among her areas of study include political engagement and political attitudes among minority groups.
Gay has strong support
In a letter to school officials, the Executive Committee of the Harvard Alumni Association on Monday declared it “unanimously and unequivocally supports” Gay.
“President Gay is the right leader to guide the University during this challenging time,” the committee wrote in a letter to school officials. “She is thoughtful. She is kind. She is resolutely dedicated to the growth and wellbeing of our very diverse community. We recognize that there was disappointment in her testimony this past week. President Gay has pointed this out and apologized for any pain her testimony caused–a powerful demonstration of her integrity, determination, and courage.”
More than 700 Harvard faculty members signed a petition urging school officials to resist calls for Gay’s removal.
“We, the undersigned faculty, urge you in the strongest possible terms to defend the independence of the university and to resist political pressures that are at odds with Harvard’s commitment to academic freedom, including calls for the removal of President Claudine Gay,” the petition said. “The critical work of defending a culture of free inquiry in our diverse community cannot proceed if we let its shape be dictated by outside forces.”
Additionally, over 800 Black Harvard alumni have announced their “unequivocal support” for Gay and her efforts to “build a stronger, more inclusive community at our alma matter while balancing the critical principals of free thought and free speech.”
But Gay’s loudest critics are among the most wealthy and powerful.
“One down. Two to go,” Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York wrote on X, after Magill stepped down Saturday, with “two” being a reference to Gay and Kornbluth. “In the case of @Harvard, President Gay was asked by me 17x whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard’s code of conduct. She spoke her truth 17x. And the world heard.”
Stefanik, along with a group of 71 bipartisan lawmakers, sent a letter to the governing boards of Harvard, Penn, and MIT last week urging them to remove their university leaders.
Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman, a Harvard graduate, has been among Gay’s most vocal critics. In an letter to Harvard’s board on Sunday Ackman wrote that Gay, who was inaugurated in July, “has done more damage to the reputation of Harvard University than any individual in our nearly 500-year history.”
Ackman has also questioned Gay’s academic integrity and values, posting on social media content that implies Gay, who is the first Black woman to lead Harvard, was hired to fulfill diversity metrics. In his letter, he attacked Harvard’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices as a “major contributing source of discriminatory practices on campus.”
Ackman alleged Gay plagiarized elements of her academic writings, an accusation Gay denied.
“I stand by the integrity of my scholarship,” Gay responded to Ackman in a statement. “Throughout my career, I have worked to ensure my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards.”
The Harvard Corporation Tuesday said it ordered an independent review of Gay’s writings, which revealed inadequate citations in a few instances but “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,” the Corporation said.
– CNN’s Eva Rothenberg and Matt Egan contributed to this report.
