Embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay is expected to learn her fate Tuesday, and it might be a relief.
The Harvard Crimson, the university’s student newspaper, reported Tuesday morning citing a person familiar with the decision that Gay will remain in office with the blessing of the university’s highest governing body.
University representatives were not immediately reachable for comment.
The Harvard Corporation, which includes the school’s board of overseers, plans to announce the decision Tuesday morning following the conclusion of the board’s meeting on Monday, the school paper reported.
CNN previously reported that The Harvard Corporation was finalizing a statement on Gay that was expected to be announced Tuesday.
Gay has been on the hot seat ever since her disastrous testimony on antisemitism at American universities before a House committee a week ago. Since then, UPenn President Liz Magill, who testified alongside Gay, resigned, and some high-profile donors and politicians called for Gay’s ouster.
But an outpouring of support for Gay Monday from hundreds of faculty and alumni could have tipped the board’s decision in her favor.
More than 700 Harvard faculty members have signed a petition backing Gay. According to the 2023 Harvard annual report, the university has 1,068 tenured faculty plus 403 tenure-track faculty.
The Executive Committee of Harvard University’s Alumni Association on Monday announced its unreserved support for Gay. And over 800 Black alumni have announced their “unequivocal support” for Gay and her efforts to “build a stronger, more inclusive community at our alma matter while balancing the critical principals of free thought and free speech.”
At the consequential December 5 hearing before a House committee, Gay struggled to answer questions about whether calls for genocide against Jews would violate Harvard’s code of conduct. She and other university presidents failed to explicitly say calls for genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying and harassment on campus. The exchanges went viral and prompted a flurry of business leaders, donors and politicians to demand Gay, Magill and MIT President Sally Kornbluth step down.
The three presidents soon after attempted to clarify their testimony, publicly saying that they were giving academic answers to questions of safety, and they believe calls for genocide would violate school rules.
MIT’s board quickly said it supported Kornbluth. Gay apologized last week in an interview with the Crimson. Magill, who resigned along with Penn board chair Scott Bok, still has not apologized.
Harvard, like many other schools across the country, has encountered difficulty combating a rise in antisemitic incidents on campus following the terror attacks by Hamas on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent strikes on Gaza. Harvard is also among 14 colleges under investigation by the Department of Education since the attacks “for discrimination involving shared ancestry” an umbrella term that covers both Islamophobia and antisemitism.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
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