Controversial former Harvard University President Claudine Gay remains as a faculty member a year after her resignation from leading the Ivy League school.
Jan. 2 marked the official one-year anniversary of when Gay stepped down from her role as president after two separate controversies related to accusations of downplaying anti-Semitism and allegations of plagiarism.
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Gay gained heavy criticism during a congressional hearing in December 2023 in which she was asked if “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates Harvard policies. Her answers included, “It can be, depending on the context.”
When pressed about the specific “context,” Gay replied that the call for genocide needed to be “targeted at an individual.”
Gay also answered, “Anti-Semitic rhetoric, when it crosses into conduct, it amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation. That is actionable conduct, and we do take action.”
The ex-president garnered further criticism after various allegations that she plagiarized as a doctoral student in the 1990s.
After resigning, Gay wrote a New York Times op-ed in which she stated she “made mistakes,” but clarified that, “I proudly stand by my work and its impact on the field.”
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According to Harvard’s website, Gay serves as the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies.
Gay’s research areas consider “how neighborhood environments shape racial and political attitudes among Black Americans,” “the roots of competition and cooperation between minority groups, with a particular focus on relations between Black Americans and Latino,” as well as the “processes of immigrant political incorporation.”
After resigning as president last year, Gay was expected to retain her salary of almost $900,000, according to The New York Post.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
