Harvard President Claudine Gay Resigns After Allegations of Plagiarism and Anti-Semitism

Harvard University’s president, Claudine Gay, resigned on Tuesday after facing uproar over the way she handled anti-Semitism during protests in Gaza and being accused of plagiarism in her academic work. Claudine Gay was criticized after reports that she did not cite the sources of her academic work. An accusation was also published on Tuesday anonymously over an online platform.

She also became associated with a scandal when she declined to comment on whether the genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s code of conduct in Congress. Gay created history by becoming the first black president of Harvard, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She mentioned in her resignation letter that she received personal threats and faced racial discrimination. 53-year-old Claudine served as president of the prestigious Harvard University for just six months, making her tenure the shortest in the 387-year history of Harvard.

Harvard is one of the universities in the US that failed to protect its Jewish students after the Israel-Hamas war. The Jewish community has complained about the anti-Jew incidents in the US that have increased since then. During a hearing in Congress in December, the former president of Harvard said that the killing of Jews was horrible, but it would depend on the context whether the comments violated Harvard’s code of conduct.

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Benjamin Netanyahu, the president of Israel, had claimed that antisemitism had seeped into the universities of the US, followed by Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, calling it cancer. Gay’s words also ignited a backlash, and many politicians and alumni called for her resignation. However, more than 700 staff members signed a letter in support of Claudine, and the university said Claudine would keep her job.

Many US media outlets have dug up information about plagiarism in her academic works. The allegations were confirmed to be true by Harvard’s board after finding out that two of her published papers needed additional citations. However, the board said she did not breach the research misconduct standards. Her resignation was first reported by Harvard’s student newspaper, Harvard Crimson, and then confirmed by Claudine Gay herself.