Harvard University's Board of Trustees has officially announced that President Claudine Gay will remain in her position despite criticism of her answers to questions presented last week at a congressional hearing on antisemitism.
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“In this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay,” the Harvard Corporation, the university's governing board, said in a statement on Tuesday as well as a post on the X platform.
The body closed the post to comments, however.
"As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University. 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 statement also said.
The governing board referred to the congressional hearing last week during which Gay, as well as and presidents the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and MIT were asked to answer lawmakers' questions during the Committee on Education & the Workforce hearing on “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism,” about the actions they take against students involved in antisemitic activities, how the recruitment procedures of the institutions ensure diverse perspectives among the faculty, and how they ensure safety on campus.
A line of questioning asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the universities' codes of conduct. At the hearing, Gay said it depended on the context, adding that when "speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies."
According to the Harvard statement issued on Tuesday: "President Gay has apologized for how she handled her congressional testimony and has committed to redoubling the University’s fight against antisemitism."
In an interview with Harvard's student newspaper, The Crimson, Gay said she got caught up in a heated exchange at the House committee hearing and 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," Gay said.
Some lawmakers and donors to the university had called for Gay to step down. Meanwhile, a petition signed by more than 600 faculty members had asked the school's governing body to keep Gay in charge.
"At Harvard, we champion open discourse and academic freedom, and we are united in our strong belief that calls for violence against our students and disruptions of the classroom experience will not be tolerated. Harvard’s mission is advancing knowledge, research, and discovery that will help address deep societal issues and promote constructive discourse, and we are confident that President Gay will lead Harvard forward toward accomplishing this vital work," the statement concluded.
Over the weekend, acting president of Upenn, Liz Magill, resigned from her position, following criticism of her performance at the hearing. The chairman of the Ivy League school's board of trustees, Scott Bok, also resigned just hours after he announced Magill's departure.
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