Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, resigned on Tuesday in the face of allegations of plagiarism and backlash for her statement during a congressional hearing in which she failed to state categorically that supporting the extermination of Jews on campus would be against the university’s behaviour code.
After the congressional hearing, Ms. Gay is the second Ivy League president to step down in the last month. A few months into her term, Ms. Gay the first Black president of Harvard noticed her resignation in a letter to the campus community.
The thirty-first president of the University, Gay, told the Harvard community in a message, “This is not a decision I came to easily.” “I have eagerly anticipated collaborating with a great number of you to further the dedication to academic excellence that has driven this magnificent university for centuries.” However, she went on, “it has become evident that my resignation is in the best interests of Harvard, allowing our community to navigate this extraordinary moment with an emphasis on the institution rather than any individual.”
Gay is set to rejoin the Harvard faculty, having worked there since 2006 as a government professor.