(StraightNews.org) – Harvard University President Claudine Gay will keep her job despite an antisemitism scandal that has cost the institution more than $1 billion. University officials announced that Gay will stay in post just days after Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik grilled her on the institution’s attitude to antisemitism in a Congressional hearing.
Governing body the Harvard Corporation released a statement saying, “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.”
Ivy League Harvard is among several US educational institutions to come under fire over antisemitic rallies and demonstrations that have taken place on campuses since the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, and authorities’ failure to prevent anti-Jewish chants. Claudine Gay admitted that she has witnessed a “dramatic and deeply concerning rise in antisemitism, but during a Congressional hearing in December, she would not comment on whether calling for the destruction of Israel breached Harvard’s codes of conduct.
At the hearing with the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, Gay refused to answer whether calling for a “global intifada” breached Harvard’s conduct codes but continually stated that such rhetoric was “personally abhorrent” to her and that she had a duty to protect free speech. Global intifada describes a worldwide uprising against the state of Israel and is often seen as a call for Jewish genocide.
Gay was questioned alongside the Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Pennsylvania. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who led the hearing that attracted more than a billion views on social media, later said all three Presidents had “failed on a global stage.”
University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill resigned soon after the grilling, saying, “Now was the right time to depart.” Scott L. Bok, chairman of the board of trustees, announced her resignation and said her position was “no longer tenable.”
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