Greene County Democrat

Tag: Claudine Gay

  • Newswire : Claudine Gay cites ‘racial animus’ as Harvard’s 1st Black President resigns

    Harvard President Claudine Gay

    By: Bilal G. Morris, Newsone

    Harvard’s first Black President, Claudine Gay, resigned Tuesday afternoon after claims of plagiarism and backlash from a congressional hearing. During the hearing, she discussed the university’s code of conduct policy about hate speech centered around Jews.
    In her resignation letter, Gay said it was an honor to hold the position and seemed saddened by the decision. 
    “It is a singular honor to be a member of this university, which has been my home and my inspiration for most of my professional career, Gay wrote. “My deep sense of connection to Harvard and its people has made it all the more painful to witness the tensions and divisions that have riven our community in recent months, weakening the bonds of trust and reciprocity that should be our sources of strength and support in times of crisis.”
    Gay also talked about the stress of her character being attacked, citing “racial animus” during her tenure as President. 
    “Amidst all of this, it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor—two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am—and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus,” she wrote.
    Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network condemned the attacks on Gay and pushed back against hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, who called on her to resign, calling her a DEI hire.
    “President Gay’s resignation is about more than a person or a single incident. This is an attack on every Black woman in this country who’s put a crack in the glass ceiling, said Sharpton. “It’s an assault on the health, strength, and future of diversity, equity, and inclusion – at a time when Corporate America is trying to back out of billions of dollars in commitments. Most of all, this was the result of Bill Ackman’s relentless campaign against President Gay, not because of her leadership or credentials but because he felt she was a DEI hire.”
    Sharpton also announced a picket outside Ackman’s office on Thursday to protest his campaign against Gay.
    “The National Action Network will show Ackman that his attacks on DEI, President Gay, and Black Americans have consequences,” said Sharpton. 
    “This Thursday, our team will picket outside of his office so New Yorkers, his investors, and Corporate America can see Bill Ackman for who he is. If he doesn’t think Black Americans belong in the C-Suite, the Ivy League, or any other hallowed halls, we’ll make ourselves at home outside his office.”
    Dr. Claudine Gay began working at the university in 2006 as a government professor and became an educator of African and African American Studies the following year.
    The university appointed her as a Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government in 2015, and she served as Dean of Social Science from then until 2018.
    Gay has also worked closely with Harvard’s previous president, Lawrence S. Bacow, for the past five years.
    According to the Harvard Gazette, Dr. Alan Garber, Harvard’s chief academic officer, will serve as interim presiden

  • Newswire : Harvard president to stay amid outcry over antisemitism testimony

     Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University

    By Daniel Arkin, NBC News

     

    Claudine Gay, the embattled president of Harvard, will remain in the role, the university’s highest governing body announced Tuesday, following almost a week of outcry over testimony she gave at a congressional hearing on antisemitism.
    “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 board said in a statement signed by the college’s fellows.
    “President Gay has apologized for how she handled her congressional testimony and has committed to redoubling the University’s fight against antisemitism,” the statement said.
    Gay became the university’s presidency less than six months ago. She is the second woman and first Black person to lead the Ivy League institution.
    Gay and her counterparts at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology drew fierce criticism after they appeared at a House hearing last week and seemed to dodge a question of whether students calling for the genocide of Jews should be punished.
    In a contentious exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Gay said “that type of speech is personally abhorrent to me” and “at odds with the values of Harvard.”
    Stefanik then pressed Gay: “Can you not say here that it is against the code of conduct at Harvard?”
    Gay did not answer directly, saying in part: “We embrace a commitment to free expression even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful — it’s when that speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies against bullying, harassment, intimidation.”
    In an interview with the Harvard Crimson student newspaper published Friday, Gay apologized for her remarks and said in part: “I got caught up in what had become at that point, an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures. I failed to convey what is my truth,” she said.
    The presidents’ testimony went viral on social media and drew condemnation from the White House, lawmakers, Jewish community advocates, alumni and donors. The backlash has been driven in part by Stefanik and billionaire investor Bill Ackman.
    The furor thrust Harvard into crisis, and demands that Gay leave her job seemed to gain steam over the weekend after Penn President Liz Magill stepped down. Magill had drawn scrutiny for responding to Stefanik’s line of questioning in similarly legalistic terms.
    However, Gay received support Monday from a large group of Harvard professors and alumni. More than 700 members of the faculty, including the constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe, signed a letter urging administrators to resist calls for Gay’s removal.
    “We … urge you in the strongest possible terms to defend the independence of the university and to resist political pressures that are at odds with Harvard’s commitment to academic freedom, including calls for the removal of President Claudine Gay,” they said in the letter.
    “The critical work of defending a culture of free inquiry in our diverse community cannot proceed if we let its shape be dictated by outside forces,” the letter went on to say. NBC News obtained the text of the letter from history professor Alison Frank Johnson, one of the faculty members spearheading the effort.
    In a separate letter, the executive committee of the Harvard Alumni Association said it “unanimously and unequivocally” backed Gay. “We have full confidence in her leadership during this difficult time,” the committee members wrote.
    The news that Gay would remain in her office was first reported by the Crimson, citing an unnamed source familiar with the decision.