Harvard University’s governing board is facing mounting pressure to publicly express their support for Harvard President Claudine Gay amid increasing backlash to her testimony at a congressional hearing on antisemitism.
The Harvard Corporation, the university’s governing body, has not yet addressed the public criticism Gay has received, and the 13-member board was due to hold a regular meeting on Monday.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who has donated millions to Harvard, wrote in an open letter to Harvard’s board on Sunday that Gay had “quelched speech she disfavors while defending and thereby amplifying vile and threatening hate speech.” A petition urging her removal claimed over 1,100 alumni signatures as of midday Monday.
However, in response to the outcry, the Harvard Alumni Association Executive Committee on Monday asked the Harvard Corporation to back Gay. In addition, nearly 700 faculty members have signed a petition expressing their support for Gay, while Black alumni and allies said they had gathered nearly 800 signatures on another petition in support of the president.
The controversy began when Gay, along with Liz Magill of University of Pennsylvania and Sally Kornbluth of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, testified before the House of Representatives committee last Tuesday. The three university presidents declined to answer “yes” or “no” when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate school codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.
The trio said they had to take free speech into consideration. Gay later apologized for her remarks in an interview with Harvard’s student newspaper.
The hearing increased public outcry over how U.S. colleges are handling campus protests since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. Jewish communities have claimed universities are tolerating antisemitism, while pro-Palestinian groups have accused the schools of being neutral or antagonistic toward their cause.
On Friday, 74 members of Congress, in a letter to the boards of all three schools, called for leadership changes. Magill and the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees chair Scott Bok resigned from their posts on Saturday. The Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation said in a statement after Kornbluth’s testimony that she still had its full support.
Many on the political right have argued that the university presidents were exhibiting hypocrisy, saying they defended free speech at the congressional hearing but police speech when it offends causes they prefer. At the hearing, Republican lawmakers grilled the presidents over their schools’ diversity efforts and accused them of being inhospitable to conservative viewpoints.
Ackman also called for closing Harvard’s office of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and alleged that the committee that appointed Gay, a Black woman, to the presidency had discriminated against “non-DEI eligible candidates.”
Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton said Ackman’s letter was a further assault on efforts to expand inclusion months after the Supreme Court, in a case that involved Harvard, struck down race-conscious college admissions programs.
At other U.S. universities, teachers have been suspended or banned from campus as debates about violence in the Middle East have intensified. The University of Arizona on Dec. 1 reinstated two educators who were suspended in November. The University of Southern California on Dec. 2 lifted restrictions on an economics professor who last month was directed to teach online.
The public debate is sure to continue, but for now, it is clear that many alumni and faculty have come to the defense of Harvard President Claudine Gay. They call on the Harvard Corporation to publicly express their support and show that they won’t be swayed by criticism. This will go a long way to show that free speech is valued and will be protected.
The Harvard Corporation will have a chance to make their stance clear when they meet on Monday. It is yet to be seen what action, if any, they will take, but it is certain that their decision will reverberate throughout the Harvard community and beyond.
