What you need to know about Claudine Gay, the controversial president of Harvard

Harvard President Claudine Gay faces the biggest test of her career as the university’s board of trustees met behind closed doors Monday amid calls for her resignation.

Dr. Gay and the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT were attacked last week for their testimony at a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism on campus. The presidents faced backlash for what were seen as legally evasive answers on whether students should be punished for calling for the genocide of the Jews.

Penn’s president, Elizabeth Magill, resigned Saturday, and pressure mounted on Harvard, with dueling letters that Dr. Gay and called for her ouster.

Here are some important points you should know about Dr. Gay and what led to this moment.

Who is Claudine Gay?

Dr. Gay, 53, took office in July, becoming the first black president and the second woman to lead Harvard.

The daughter of Haitian immigrants, she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University – where she would later teach – and a Ph.D. in Harvard government.

She joined the faculty at Harvard in 2006, where she was professor of public administration and African and African American studies. In 2018, she became dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Her appointment as university president was seen as both historic and timely.

Dr. Gay, a proponent of diversity in hiring and an expert on minority representation and political participation in government, took the reins just as the Supreme Court was banning the use of race-conscious admissions at Harvard and other universities across the country rejected.

She was selected from a pool of more than 600 nominations.

Penny Pritzker, senior fellow at the Harvard Corporation who led the presidential search committee, praised Dr. Gay at the time, for her, “a rare blend of perspicacity and inclusivity,” entailing both a “fundamental commitment to free inquiry and expression, and a deep appreciation for the diverse voices and views that are the lifeblood of a university community.”

What happened at the December 5 Congressional hearing?

Dr. Gay testified last week alongside Ms. Magill and Sally Kornbluth, the president of MIT, at a hearing that Republicans in the House of Representatives convened to address issues of bias against Jewish students. Harvard, like other campuses, has been convulsed by demonstrations and clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students in the weeks following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza.

In one conversation, Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, pressed Dr. Gay about whether the university condoned the chanting of “intifada” on its campus — an Arabic word meaning “uprising” that many Jews hear as a call to violence. against them.

“I personally find that kind of hate speech abhorrent,” said Dr. Gay. She seemed to be trying to walk a tightrope, noting that Harvard is committed to free speech, “even when it involves views that are objectionable, offensive and hateful,” while also saying that speech that crossed the line into bullying and harassment would be addressed.

Later, Ms. Stefanik asked, “Does the call for genocide of the Jews violate Harvard’s rules on bullying and harassment? Yes or no?”

Dr. Gay responded, “It may be, depending on the context.” She added: “Anti-Semitic rhetoric, when it turns into behavior that amounts to bullying, harassment, is actionable behavior, and we are taking action.”

Dr. Gay apologized in an interview with The Harvard Crimsonthe campus newspaper that appeared last week.

“I got caught up in what had become at that moment: an extended, combative exchange over policies and procedures,” said Dr. Gay. “What I should have had the presence of mind at that moment was to 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. .”

Does she have support on campus?

While groups of donors, alumni and students put pressure on Dr. Gay, approximately 700 Harvard faculty members, among hundreds of other alumni, came to her defense in several open letters.

A, of black faculty members, called the attacks on the president “apparently and politically motivated.” The letter, written and signed by some of Harvard’s most prominent professors, stated that Dr. Gay “should be given the opportunity to serve her term to demonstrate her vision for Harvard.”

A separate letter in which he expressed “no confidence” in Dr. Gay also received support on Monday. It was signed by Harvard students and alumni urging her to resign or be fired. “It is not appropriate for Claudine Gay to serve as president of Harvard as she does not represent our collective values ​​or the Harvard we have come to know,” the letter said.

The Harvard Corporation, the governing body over the fate of Dr. Gay could decide, has kept quiet.

The situation differs in at least some ways from that at Penn, where Ms. Magill — a newcomer to Penn after serving as provost at the University of Virginia — has faced declining support long before her testimony.