Resignation of Harvard President amid Allegations of Anti-Semitism and Plagiarism Suspicions

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2024-01-05

Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University, was criticized for her ambiguous attitude towards anti-Semitism, and then was caught up in the plagiarism scandal. Under pressure from many quarters, she recently resigned from her post as president of Harvard University, making it the shortest tenure in the history of Harvard University.

As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unfolds, anti-Semitic sentiments are running high on the campuses of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the "genocide of Jews" speech has been circulating without punishment. On December 5 last year, the three presidents attended a congressional hearing together, and when responding to Republican U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik's hypothetical question of whether or not anti-Semitism violated the code of conduct, Gay was ambiguous in her response, saying that it would depend on the circumstances at the time, which led to a firestorm of criticism from outsiders, and 74 U.S. Congress members even jointly demanded that the three presidents be dismissed from their positions immediately. The 74 members of the US Congress even jointly demanded that the three presidents should be dismissed immediately.

Claudine Gay was later accused of plagiarism in a number of academic articles, the university originally responded with an investigation found that Gay "cited insufficient" but did not violate the research norms, but the media broke the news one after another, and even pointed out that Harvard's academic requirements for Gay and students are not the same standard, and then the federal House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce (Education and the Workforce) said that it would expand the investigation of Gay's plagiarism of academic articles and implied that the school's federal subsidies or accreditation fear of repercussions, and the long-time donors to Harvard University to stop making donations, which triggered a serious concern in the Harvard University campus.

Claudine Gay finally announced her resignation on February 2, stating that she made this difficult decision after discussions with her fellow board members, emphasizing that she stood by her commitment to fighting hate and upholding academic rigor, but that stepping down would be in the best interests of Harvard, allowing the university to refocus on the institution, not individuals, and to work together to navigate through this difficult time; the Harvard Board of Trustees also stated that it was "saddened" to accept Gay's resignation, and praised Gay for her courage and extraordinary fortitude in the face of persistent personal attacks. The Harvard Board of Trustees also stated that it accepted his resignation "with sadness" and praised Gay for his courage and resilience in the face of persistent personal attacks. Former Harvard Provost Alan Garber will serve as interim president.