A week after she faced a hearing following accusations of anti-Semitism, the Board of Governors of Harvard University announced today (Tuesday) that President Claudine Gay will remain in her position. According to the announcement of the University Council, the decision was unanimously adopted by the administrators of the academic institution.
"During this difficult and turbulent time, today we reaffirm our support for President Gay's continued leadership at the university," the statement said. According to them, "Our extensive deliberations confirm our belief that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and address the most serious social issues we face."
As a reminder, last week Gay was at a hearing following her statements during the debate in the US Congress on the rising anti-Semitism in US universities, which caused a stir after she refrained from responding to the institutions' attitude to calls for the Jewish genocide in Israel. As part of the debate, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik asked Gay whether such calls violate her university's rules of conduct, and she argued that it depends on the context.
Following the online criticism, Harvard University issued a clarification statement claiming that "some have confused the right to freedom of expression with the idea that Harvard would agree to calls for violence against Jewish students. Let me clarify: calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are abominations, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held accountable."
