The academia at the Harvard Campus had been facing major strife over the last few days because of its former President Claudine Gay’s supposed anti-Semitism remarks and plagiarism charges. Uncontrollable events and grave public scrutiny have led her to resign from the post. In a major move, the university board has appointed Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber, of Jewish background, as the new interim president in an attempt to put all complaints and allegations at ease.
Who is Claudine Gay?
Image Credit: Politico
Claudine Gay is the daughter of Haitian immigrant parents who are based in the United States. In 1992, she graduated with an economics degree from Stanford University and received the Anna Laura Myers Prize for her undergraduate thesis work. Later in 1998, she earned her Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University and also received the Toppan Prize for her dissertation.
In 2006, she was recruited by Harvard to be a professor at their university. In June 2022, when Lawrence Bacow announced that he would resign from his post as president of Havard in one year, Claudine Gay was chosen to succeed him. She took office on July 1, 2023, and became the university’s first black president.
Antisemitic remarks and allegations against Gay:
Image Credit: The Harvard Gazette
However, her position soon started getting affected after she failed to adequately condemn the Hamas-led attack on Israel that took place on October 7.
In December 2023, during a discussion about Harvard’s institutional response to antisemitism, she was asked if a hypothetical call for the genocide of Jewish people would qualify as a violation of Harvard’s code of conduct. To this, Gay responded in a statement, “It can be, depending on the context.” She later tried to clarify her statement by explaining, “Antisemitic rhetoric, when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation—that is actionable conduct, and we do take action.”
However, this explanation or her later apology had no effect, as Gay’s remarks were broadly criticised by the public and the media. Later, the board of the Harvard Corporation had to get involved and release a statement of apology on Gay’s behalf.
Plagiarism allegations against Gay:
Image Credit: CNN
The after effects of Gay’s anti-Semitic statement had not died down; she was again embroiled in plagiarism charges in her dissertation work. As summarized by The New York Times, the list of allegations included using material from other sources that had no proper attribution in her dissertation. Along with this, 11 journal articles listed on her résumé were also accused of plagiarising.
After the controversy broke out, Gay denied these allegations and requested an investigation in this matter. The Harvard Corporation reported that the review found “a few instances of inadequate citation” in her work, but there was “no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.” However, all these statements did not stop the feverish debate and allegations.
On January 2, 2024, Claudine Gay announced that she was resigning from her position. She later said that the anti-Semitism allegations, coupled with doubts about her efficiency as an academic scholar, were very distressing to her. However, she remains a faculty member at Havard.
Harvard appoints Alan Garber as the new president:
Image Credit: The Harvard Crimson
After Claudine Gay’s resignation, Harvard University appointed professor Alan Garber, who has also been the provost at Harvard, as the interim president. Alan Garber, aged 76, has served as a provost at Harvard since 2011. His ethinicity as a Jew stands significant after Harvard has been embroiled in anti-Semitism allegations.
Garber is an economist and physician who has been a provost under three successive Harvard presidents. He received his masters and doctorate in economics from Harvard while also pursuing a medical degree from Stanford. He later joined Stanford as an assistant professor and returned to Harvard in 2011, when he was appointed provost.
After Garber was appointed as the new president, the Harvard Corporation wrote an email to its affiliates. It was written that they were fortunate to have someone like him with deep experience and extraordinary institutional knowledge to guide the university through this interim period.
After Garber’s appointment as President, Harvard’s student newspaper, ‘The Harvard Crimson’ wrote in a post that he will bring an insider’s outlook and years of administrative experience to this role at a time when the university is experiencing ‘immense uncertainty.’
