A truck with electronic license plates drives along a street on Tuesday near Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The truck displays messages calling attention to recent controversy involving congressional testimony by the presidents of three prestigious colleges, including Harvard, MIT, and the University of California. Pennsylvania. Harvard’s top governing body announced Tuesday that President Claudine Guy will remain Harvard’s leader following her remarks last week at a congressional hearing on anti-Semitism. (AP Photo/Stephen Sen)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Harvard University President Claudine Jay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school following her comments last week at a congressional hearing on anti-Semitism, the university’s top governing body announced Tuesday.
“Our extensive deliberations underscore our confidence that President Jay is the right leader to help our community heal and address the very serious societal issues we face,” he added. The Harvard Foundation said in a statement following its meeting on Monday.
Just months into her leadership, Gay has come under intense scrutiny following a hearing in which she and two of her peers struggled to answer questions about anti-Semitism on campus in the wake of the recent war between Israel and Hamas, which broke out in early October. Their academic responses have drawn backlash from Republican opponents, along with alumni and donors who say university leaders are failing to advocate for Jewish students on their campuses.
Some lawmakers and donors to the university had called on Guy to step down, following Liz Magill’s resignation as president of the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday.
A petition signed by more than 600 faculty members asked the school board to keep Jay in charge.
The topic of discussion was a series of questions that asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the universities’ code of conduct. At the hearing, Jay said it depends on the context, adding that when “Speech turns into behavior that violates our policies.”
“Many people have suffered enormous harm and pain due to Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack, and the League’s initial statement should have been an immediate, direct and unequivocal condemnation.” The company statement said. “Calls for genocide are despicable and run counter to basic human values. President Jay has apologized for the way she handled her testimony before Congress and has committed to redoubling the University’s fight against anti-Semitism.
In an interview with the Harvard Crimson student newspaper last week, Gay said she got into a heated argument at a House committee hearing and failed to properly condemn threats of violence against Jewish students.
“What I should have done in that moment was to return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged.” “,” Jay said.
Gay and Magill’s testimony sparked national backlash, as did similar responses from the head of MIT, who also testified before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a committee member who repeatedly asked university presidents whether that was possible “Call for the extermination of the Jews” It will violate the schools’ rules, and she expressed her dissatisfaction with the school’s decision regarding the social media platform X.
“There have been absolutely no updates to (Harvard’s) code of conduct to condemn calls for Jewish genocide and to protect Jewish students on campus.” She said. “The only update to the Harvard Code of Conduct is to allow impersonators to serve as president.”
On Harvard’s campus, news of the decision came as students and teachers were rushing to classrooms. Gunduz Vasav, a visiting professor of psychology, said he supports Jay.
“I fully support her testimony before Congress. I think the situation was taken out of context in the immediate emotions of the moment. Fassaf said.
He added: “As long as there is no incitement or call for violence, this falls within freedom of expression.” he added.
Evan Routhier, a student at Harvard, said he also supports gay people.
“My experience since taking over has been positive.” He said.
The news attracted others to campus.
Rabbi Chananel Weiner, director of Aish Campus Boston, said he came to Harvard to show solidarity with the students.
“We need to resist the ideas being spread here that are actually against the Jewish people.” He said. “The Jewish people are under attack and we are under attack from all angles, and academia is one of them. This is the heart of academia.”
Celebrity attorney Alan Dershowitz, a longtime advocate for Israel and a professor at Harvard Law School, said Tuesday that it was a mistake for the Harvard Foundation to support Gay, saying she champions a bureaucracy of diversity, equity and inclusion. “This has become an incubator for anti-Semitism.”
He said he hopes Gay will change her views on freedom of expression to ensure everyone is treated the same way.
“Currently, it embraces a dangerous double standard that allows freedom of expression to attack some groups and not others. The school must decide on a policy, either freedom of expression for all, equally, or limited restrictions, applied equally. She was not a champion of this kind of equality, and therefore she was the wrong person, at the wrong time, in the wrong job. He said.
A popular watchdog group called StopAntismism said on Channel X that Harvard’s decision “It only gives the green light to more Jew hatred on campus.” She said she continues to call for Jay’s resignation and urged the company to reconsider.
Universities across the country have been witnessing protests, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia since the war in Gaza began two months ago, putting university administrators across the country on the defensive.
The foundation also addressed plagiarism allegations against Gay, saying Harvard University became aware of them in late October in connection with three articles she wrote. An independent review was initiated at Jay’s request.
The company reviewed the results on Saturday. “Which revealed some instances of insufficient citation.” It added that it found no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct. Jay is proactively requesting four corrections to two articles to include citations and quotation marks that were deleted from the original posts, the statement said.
Harvard’s announcement came on the same day that several prominent universities faced new federal investigations over allegations of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia.
The US Department of Education announced that it had opened civil rights investigations into Stanford University, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of California-San Diego, the University of Washington-Seattle, Rutgers University, and Whitman College. Details about the complaints were not revealed. These schools join Harvard, Pennsylvania, Cornell, Columbia and several other schools that have been under investigation by the ministry since October 7.
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McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press reporter David Sharp contributed from Portland, Maine.
In a recent announcement, the College Board has confirmed that Harvard University will be retaining its current president. This decision comes after much speculation and anticipation within the academic community. The news has garnered both excitement and curiosity, as the university continues to be a prominent institution in higher education. This development brings about great anticipation for the future direction and leadership of Harvard University.