The rector of the prestigious American University of Harvard, Claudine Gay, resigned on Tuesday. She writes that down an internal message to colleagues and students. Gay had been under fire for weeks due to accusations of plagiarism. She has also been criticized since October for her statements about anti-Semitism within Harvard University.
Gay took office last July. She was the first black rector of the top university ever. At six months and two days, she also served the shortest time as rector in the almost four-hundred-year history of the academic institution. She says she is resigning “with a heavy heart” and writes that it was an honor to have been rector.
In recent weeks, Gay has been accused of plagiarism in previously published academic papers. Meanwhile, there were indications of plagiarism in approximately forty of her publications, including the dissertation for which she received her PhD from Harvard in 1998. Gay does not mention the plagiarism accusations in her suicide note. An interim rector will take office while a search is underway for Gay's successor.
Anti-Semitism
In addition, Claudine Gay came under fire for her response to Hamas's large-scale terror attacks on Israel, which killed at least 1,200 people and took another 240 hostage on October 7. This was the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Gay was criticized for not publicly condemning Hamas attacks, but also for not taking action against Harvard student groups that published statements that critics said were anti-Semitic in tone.
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Top administrators of American universities under fire for anti-Semitism
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