Name: Harvard Board Keeps President Despite Antisemitism Backlash
Uploaded: 2023-12-13T05:39:32.000Z
Description: CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school following her comments last week at a congressional hearing on antisemitism, the university's highest governing body announced Tuesday.

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

NTD Plus

News

News with integrity, from the U.S. and around the world. Focused reports and analyses that shed light on major issues the world deserves to know. NTD Evening News airs daily at 6 p.m. ET.

NTD Evening News

Drone Strikes Damage High-Rise Building Near Moscow

Mari Otsu is NTD's White House correspondent based in Washington. 

Mari Otsu

Freedom 250 CEO Calls for Faith, Freedom, and Unity Ahead of America’s 250th Anniversary

Thousands March in London for ‘Unite the Kingdom’ Rally

Eric Metaxas: Knowing America’s History Is Key to Preserving Freedom

Sean Marshall is a reporter based at NTD's global headquarters in New York City, primarily covering business and technology trends. 

Sean Marshall

Long Island Railroad Strike Continues

Citizens Share Hopes and Prayer for America

Chris Beers is an NTD News anchor and political correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Chris co-anchors "NTD News Today" weekdays at 10:00 am ET.

Chris Beers

US Wants Cuba to Stop Hosting America's Enemies: National Security Analyst

Furniture Fair 2026: When Nature Goes Indoors

Analyst Casts Doubts over Trump-Xi Deals, Noting China’s Past Non-Compliance

Travis Gillmore is an avid reader and journalism connoisseur based in California covering finance, politics, the State Capitol, and breaking news for The Epoch Times.

Travis Gillmore

US News

State News

District of Columbia

Thousands Attend ‘Rededicate 250’ Prayer Celebration on National Mall

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 17)

Arleen Richards is NTD's legal correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers all major legal stories. Arleen holds a Doctor of Law (J.D.).


Arleen Richards

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 16)

Cary Dunst is the news anchor for NTD Evening News. He is also the co-host of NTD Good Morning.


Cary Dunst

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 15)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 14)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 13)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 12)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 11)

Don Ma is an anchor and senior business correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Don is the anchor and producer of NTD's "Business Matters," which airs weekdays at 4:30 pm ET.

Don Ma

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 10)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 9)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 8)

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

China Sends Warships to Pacific Drill as Tensions With Japan Rise

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages.

Reuters

We present news that is truthful and based on facts, outside of the political fog. Instead of focusing on the negative things happening around us, our mission is to give our viewers a good morning with empathetic and uplifting stories. Our aim is to provide an antidote to negativity by shining a light on the best side of people. We speak to inspiring people who positively impact communities, pursue topics that represent our common human values, and will never miss an opportunity to bring you heartwarming stories.

NTD Good Morning

2 US Embassy Personnel Assigned to Cartel Case Killed in Car Accident

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

Gunman Kills 8 Children, Including 7 of His Own, in Louisiana Mass Shooting

Flora Hua is a reporter based at NTD's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers China news, U.S.-China relations, and human rights issues. Flora primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus."  

Flora Hua

Trump: Seized Iranian Ship May Have ‘A Gift From China’

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Aldgra Fredly is a freelance writer covering U.S. and Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.

Aldgra Fredly

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition: Spokesman

Wildfires Across Georgia and Florida Have Destroyed Nearly 50 Homes and Are Forcing Evacuations

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

US Warns of China Hacks via Routers, Smart Devices

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

2 Americans Among Suspected Communist Rebels Killed in Clashes With Troops, Philippine Officials Say

Ryan Morgan is a reporter for The Epoch Times focusing on military and foreign affairs. He was previously a news writer for NTD. 


Ryan Morgan

World News

Middle East

Iran

3 US Warships Fend Off Iranian Attacks, Trump Says Ceasefire Still Holds

Health News

3 Dead in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship in Atlantic Ocean: WHO

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school following her comments last week at a congressional hearing on antisemitism, the university's highest governing body announced Tuesday.

“Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing,” the Harvard Corporation said in a statement following its meeting Monday.

Only months into her leadership, Ms. Gay came under intense scrutiny following the hearing in which she and two of her peers struggled to answer questions about campus antisemitism in the wake of the latest Israel–Hamas war, which erupted in early October. Their academic responses provoked backlash from Republican opponents, along with alumni and donors who say the university leaders are failing to stand up for Jewish students on their campuses.

Some lawmakers and donors to the the university had called for Ms. Gay to step down, following the resignation of Liz Magill as president of the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday.

A petition signed by more than 600 faculty members had asked the school’s governing body to keep Ms. Gay in charge.

At issue was a line of questioning that asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the universities’ code of conduct. At the hearing, Ms. Gay said it depended on the context, adding that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.”

“So many people have suffered tremendous damage and pain because of Hamas's brutal terrorist attack, and the university's initial statement should have been an immediate, direct, and unequivocal condemnation,” the corporation's statement said. “Calls for genocide are despicable and contrary to fundamental human values. President Gay has apologized for how she handled her congressional testimony and has committed to redoubling the university's fight against antisemitism."

In an interview with The Harvard Crimson student newspaper last week, Ms. Gay said she got caught up in a heated exchange at the House committee hearing and failed to properly denounce threats of violence against Jewish students.

“What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was 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,” Ms. Gay said.

Testimony from Ms. Gay and Ms. Magill drew intense national backlash, as did similar responses from the president of MIT, who also testified before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a committee member who repeatedly asked the university presidents whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the schools’ rules, voiced her displeasure about the school's decision on X, the social media platform.

“There have been absolutely no updates to [Harvard’s] code of conduct to condemn the calls for genocide of Jews and protect Jewish students on campus,” she said. “The only update to Harvard’s code of conduct is to allow plagiarists as president.”

On the Harvard campus, the news about the decision came as students and teachers were rushing to classes. Gunduz Vassaf, a visiting professor in psychology, said he supports Ms. Gay.

“I fully support her testimony before Congress. I do believe that the situation has been taken out of context in the emotions of the immediate moment,” Mr. Vassaf said.

“As long as there’s no incitement and a call for violence, this falls within the freedom of speech,” he added.

Evan Routhier, a student at Harvard, said he also supports Ms. Gay.

“My experience since she’s taken over has been positive,” he said.

Rabbi Chananel Weiner, the director of Aish Campus Boston, said he came to Harvard to show solidarity with students.

“We need to resist the ideas really that are being spread here that are really against the Jewish people,” he said. “The Jewish people are under attack and we're under attack from all angles, academia being one of them and this is the heart of academia."

Celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz, a longtime defender of Israel and a professor at Harvard Law School, said Tuesday it was a mistake for the Harvard Corporation to support Ms. Gay, saying she championed a diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucracy “that has become an incubator for antisemitism.”

He said he hopes that Ms. Gay changes her views on free speech to ensure everyone is treated the same.

“Right now she has been presiding over a dangerous double standard that permits free speech attacking some groups but not others. The school must decide on a policy, either free speech for all, equally, or limited restrictions, equally applied. She has not been the champion for that kind of equality and therefore she is the wrong person, at the wrong time, in the wrong job,” he said.

A grassroots watchdog group called StopAntisemitism said on X that Harvard's decision “serves only to greenlight more Jew-hatred on campus." It said it continues to call for Ms. Gay's resignation and urged the corporation to reconsider.

College campuses nationwide have been roiled by protests, antisemitism, and Islamophobia since the start of the war in Gaza two months ago, putting university administrators across the nation on the defensive.

The corporation also addressed allegations of plagiarism against Ms. Gay, saying that Harvard became aware of them in late October regarding three articles she had written. It initiated an independent review at Ms. Gay's request.

The corporation reviewed the results on Saturday, “which revealed a few instances of inadequate citation” and found no violation of Harvard's standards for research misconduct, it said. Ms. Gay is proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications, the statement said.

Harvard’s announcement came the same day several prominent universities faced new federal investigations for allegations of antisemitism or Islamophobia.

The U.S. Education Department announced it opened civil rights investigations at Stanford, UCLA, the University of California-San Diego, the University of Washington-Seattle, Rutgers University and Whitman College. Details about the complaints were not released. Those schools join Harvard, Penn, Cornell, Columbia, and several others that have come under investigation by the department since Oct. 7.

<em>By Steve LeBlanc and Kathy McCormack</em>

Latest

president

Harvard

Videos

04_Top Stories

Latest Clips

Backlash

antisemitism

Management

Alison Lee

02_Second Lead

Israel–Hamas War

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.