Harvard President Apologizes for Congressional Testimony on Anti-Semitism
Harvard President Claudine Gay apologized to the university community for her testimony before Congress, where she gave evasive answers to questions about whether calls for genocide of Jews would violate campus policy.
“I’m sorry,” said Dr. Gay in an interview with the campus newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, published Friday. “Words are important.”
“When words add to the sadness and pain, I don’t know how you can feel anything other than regret,” she said.
The interview came when Dr. Gay faced a storm of repercussions, including the abrupt dismissal of a rabbi from Harvard’s anti-Semitism advisory committee, the initiation of a congressional investigation and even suggestions from a prominent alumnus that she was unqualified for her position, which she assumed in July.
Dr. Gay said in the interview that she had become “caught up” in a series of questions Tuesday from Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, and “should have had the presence of mind” during the conversation to “revert to my opinion.” . 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.”
The exchanges between Ms. Stefanik, Dr. Gay and two other university leaders, Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania and Sally Kornbluth of MIT, have roiled three of the nation’s most influential colleges. On Thursday, a House committee opened an investigation into “the learning environments” at all three campuses, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, said the three presidents should leave their posts.
When asked during Tuesday’s hearing whether pushing for genocide of the Jewish people amounts to defying Harvard’s policies against bullying and harassment, Dr. Gay: “That may be the case, depending on the context.”
Ms. Magill has faced the sharpest criticism for her testimony, with influential donors and alumni calling for her dismissal from Penn. One contributor withdrew a donation worth approximately $100 million. But the fuss surrounding Dr. Gay is also steeped in discussions about how universities handle racial issues.
Bill Ackman, a billionaire investor and Harvard alumnus, emphasized on social media this week that Dr. Gay related to the university’s goals of diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Narrowing the applicant pool based on required criteria of race, gender and/or sexual orientation is not the right approach to identifying the best leaders for our most prestigious universities,” Mr. Ackman wrote in a message on X. Also not good for those who get the office of president and who end up in a role that they would probably not have received if there had not been a big finger on the scales. “
Harvard said it had no comment on Mr. Ackman’s post. In her announcement last year about Dr. Gay’s elevation to the presidency, Penny Pritzker, who led the presidential search committee, said more than 600 people had been nominated to lead Harvard. When Ms. Pritzker opened the search last year, she said that Harvard was looking for an individual with, among other qualities, “a commitment to embracing diversity along many dimensions as a source of strength.”
Ibram X. Kendi, the director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, argued on Friday on inferior black and female leaders deserve their positions’. their position because of identity.”
Dr. Kendi added: “These ideas emerge in times of crisis: there is an assumption that the Black and female leader is the problem.” He declined further comment.
Dr. Gay has given no public signal that she is considering resigning, and there is no indication she faces as serious a revolt as Ms. Magill did at Penn. The consequences of Dr.’s testimony Gay have nevertheless been notable, including Thursday’s resignation of Rabbi David Wolpe from the anti-Semitism advisory committee that Harvard formed after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Rabbi Wolpe said in an interview Friday that he felt uncomfortable being seen on the panel as the “voice of the Jewish community.”
“I was left with a job with a lot of responsibility and no authority,” he said, noting that he felt he could still “be a force for good” by meeting with students in his capacity as a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity. School.
In a series of posts on X announcing his resignation, Rabbi Wolpe had Dr. Described Gay as a “kind and thoughtful person,” he said he had come to the conclusion that combating Harvard’s problems was “the work of more than one committee or a single university. ”
Rabbi Wolpe added: “It’s not going to change by hiring or firing one person, or posting on X, or yelling at people who don’t post the way you want, when you want, as if posting is the sum total is of one’s moral values. character. This is the task of educating a generation, and also a huge unlearning task.”
Dr. Gay said in a statement that the rabbi had “deepened my and our community’s understanding of the unacceptable presence of anti-Semitism here at Harvard.” She added that she was “determined to ensure that no member of our Jewish community faces this hatred in any form.”
But Rabbi Wolpe said enormous damage has been done to the credibility of some universities that have been embroiled in intense debate since October. Parents, he said in the interview Friday, were calling and saying they no longer dreamed of sending their children to schools like Harvard and Penn.
“When I was growing up, something like this was unthinkable,” Rabbi Wolpe said.
Stephanie Saul reporting contributed.