Harvard President Claudine Gay has apologized over her controversial remarks during a House Education committee hearing this week.
Gay testified alongside Elizabeth Magill, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, and Sally Kornbluth, head of MIT, during a hearing about the rise of antisemitism on college campuses.
All three women have faced intense criticism for failing to definitively state that calling for genocide against Jews would be considered a violation of harassment and bullying policies.
When Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) posed the question to Gay, she said it depended on the context.
“It does not depend on the context,” Stefanik, a Harvard alum, fired back. “The answer is yes and this is why you should resign.”
🚨🚨🚨Presidents of @Harvard @MIT and @Penn REFUSE to say whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” is bullying and harassment according to their codes of conduct. Even going so far to say it needs to turn to “action” first. As in committing genocide.
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) December 5, 2023
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE AND… pic.twitter.com/hUY3SgoOOi
During an interview with The Harvard Crimson, Gay said she was “sorry.”
“Words matter,” she said. “When words amplify distress and pain, I don’t know how you could feel anything but regret.”
The apology comes after Gay attempted to do damage control on Wednesday, issuing a statement on Harvard’s social media accounts attempting to clarify her response.
“There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students,” Gay said Wednesday. “Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”
Her statement, and a video from Magill, did nothing to quell the furor over their collective responses, however. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is launching an investigation of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT over “rampant antisemitism,” furious donors are beginning to pull big money, and calls for their resignations are growing louder.
Gay acknowledged in her interview with The Harvard Crimson what she should have done differently.
“I got caught up in what had become at that point, an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures,” she said. “What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was 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.”
“Substantively, I failed to convey what is my truth,” Gay added.