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CNN
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Now that Liz McGill has stepped down as president of the University of Pennsylvania, attention has shifted to her fellow Harvard president, Claudine Gay.
“One down. Two more to go.” New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik I wrote to X, formerly known as Twitter, where the “2” refers to Gay and MIT President Sally Kornbluth. “In the case of @Harvard University, President Gay was asked me 17 times whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard’s Code of Conduct. She told her truth 17 times. I did. And the world heard it.”
Mr. Stefanik serves on the House Education and Labor Committee, which last Tuesday asked Mr. McGill, Mr. Gay, and Mr. Kornbluth to testify about: Their response to suspected anti-Semitic incidents that occurred on campus after the incident. War between Israel and Hamas.
All three gave widely criticized testimony in which they failed to denounce calls for the genocide of Jews as clear opposition to campus harassment and bullying policies. On Friday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent letters to the boards of governors of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, calling on them to fire the universities’ leaders. Meanwhile, hundreds of teachers signed a petition in support of gays.
Since then, gay I apologized “I’m sorry,” she said in an interview about the statement. harvard crimson on Thursday. “Words are important”
“At that point, I became embroiled in a long and combative exchange about policy and procedure,” Gay told the student newspaper. “In that moment, I should have remained calm: Calls for violence against our Jewish community, threats against Jewish students, have no place at Harvard and will never be challenged. It was about returning to the truth that guides me.”
Harvard University is one of several academic institutions that have come under fire in recent months for alleged anti-Semitism on campus. terrorist attack October 7th by Hamas and Israel the subsequent strike In Gaza.Harvard University is also among his 14 universities. Under investigation Since the attack, the Ministry of Education has used the term “for discrimination related to common ancestry,” an umbrella term that includes both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
Gay, a political scientist focused on the intersection of politics and race, became Harvard’s 30th president in July after serving as dean of Harvard’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Unlike Gay, Penn’s McGill faced criticism for months before resigning. Donors have been concerned about McGill’s work since September, when the university allowed a speaker identified by the Penn administration to have a history of anti-Semitic comments to participate in an on-campus Palestine Literary Festival. He was asking for his resignation. These existing tensions intensified further with the onset of the current Israel-Hamas war.
Gay also vocally acknowledges the concerns of Jewish students.
On October 7, a coalition of student organizations issued a statement blaming the Israeli government for the Hamas attack. The letter drew widespread condemnation from business leaders and alumni, who called for the group of students who signed the statement to be blacklisted. A coalition spokesperson later said in a statement that the coalition “firmly opposes violence against Palestinians, Israelis, and other civilians.”
Three days after the coalition posted the letter, Gay issued a statement condemning the “terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas” and saying, “No student group, even 30 student groups, should be at Harvard University or its leadership.” I am not speaking for the department.”
In late October, in a speech to the Jewish student body at Harvard University, he said that gay announced She has assembled an advisory group of “faculty, faculty, alumni, and religious leaders from the Jewish community” to help “think broadly and specifically about how anti-Semitism manifests on campus and in campus culture.” Deaf,” he said. ”
That doesn’t make Gay any less vulnerable to criticism, but his willingness to take responsibility in the face of criticism may ultimately be the determining factor in whether he resigns.
Harvard University and the university’s governing body, the Board of Overseers, are meeting on campus on Sunday amid pressure for Gay to resign, a person close to the board told CNN. News of this meeting was previously reported by the Harvard Crimson.
A Harvard University spokeswoman declined to comment.
Business leaders and alumni have criticized what they see as inaction by gays and their peers in the fight against anti-Semitism on campus. Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman is one of the most vocal critics of gays. After her testimony in Congress, he called on Gay to “resign in shame,” along with Mr. McGill and Mr. Kornbluth, citing disgust with his testimony.
Ackman, a Harvard graduate, also questions Gaye’s academic integrity and values. Post Regarding social media content suggesting that Gay, the first black woman to lead Harvard University, was hired to meet diversity metrics.
However, criticism from the Harvard community primarily frames discrimination on campus as a systemic problem rather than a moral failing on the part of gays.in a statement announce resignation In response to Gay’s harrowing testimony, Rabbi David Wolpe from Harvard University’s Anti-Semitism Advisory Group last week called out Harvard University’s ideology, which frames Jews as oppressors while “denigrating and denying the Jewish experience. Combating this combination of … is the job of more than just a committee or a single university.” ”
He stressed that he believes gay people are “kind and thoughtful people,” but wrote that “hiring and firing one person will not change the situation.”
On Sunday, more than 300 Harvard faculty members signed a petition calling on authorities to resist calls to fire Mr. Gay.
“We, the undersigned faculty, are committed to defending the independence of the University and resisting political pressures that conflict with Harvard University’s commitment to academic freedom, including calls to remove President Claudine Gay. We request this in the strongest possible terms,” the petition reads. Said. “The important work of preserving the culture of free inquiry in our diverse communities cannot be shaped by outside forces.”
individual Teachers have also expressed support for gays on social media in recent days.
“Anti-Semitism at Harvard is real… but the problem is systemic and calling for a gay president to resign is misguided,” computer science professor Boaz Barak said in a post on X. Stated.
“I sincerely hope we don’t let donors and politicians dictate who leads our schools,” wrote Jason Furman, an economic policy professor and former chairman of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers, calling gays a genocide. He added that he had condemned the calls before, during, and during. After a Congressional hearing.
Former Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Fryer said in a post on X: Freedom of speech, academic freedom, and civil speech. ”
Alumni donors – over 1,800 of them signed an open letter He wrote to Harvard University Dean Rakesh Khurana, who is gay, demanding concrete reforms to support Jews on campus and threatening to withdraw donations if those steps were not taken.
CNN’s Matt Egan contributed to this report.