Embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay is expected to officially call it quits on Tuesday, ending what was the "shortest tenure in university history" according to a story breaking the news from the student-run Harvard Crimson.
President Gay's decision to resign in disgrace comes after she and the Harvard Corporation botched their response to nearly 50 allegations of plagiarism affecting more than half of Gay's scant body of scholarly work. After threatening legal action against the New York Post as it worked to report on the plagiarism allegations, then conducting a rushed and incomplete "investigation" of some allegations, Harvard tried to weather the storm — but failed to save its president.
On Monday evening, another set of allegations against President Gay was submitted to Harvard, documenting some even more clear-cut examples of alleged plagiarism that again refuted the outcome of Harvard's unserious investigation of complaints.
According to the Crimson's dispatch on the sudden departure:
It is not clear who will be appointed to serve as interim president.
University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain declined to comment on Gay's decision to step down.
Gay’s resignation — just six months and two days into the presidency — comes amid growing allegations of plagiarism and lasting doubts over her ability to respond to antisemitism on campus after her disastrous congressional testimony Dec. 5.
Gay weathered scandal after scandal over her brief tenure, facing national backlash for her administration’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and allegations of plagiarism in her scholarly work.
The Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — is expected to announce the resignation to Harvard affiliates in an email later today. Gay is also expected to make a statement about the decision.
The announcement comes three weeks after the Corporation announced unanimous support for Gay after “extensive deliberations” following the congressional hearing.
Before the plagiarism scandal marred President Gay's limited academic work, she plunged herself into another scandal with disastrous testimony before House lawmakers that saw her unable to say whether anti-semitic demonstrations calling for the elimination of Israel constituted a breach of university policy.
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— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 2, 2024
TWO DOWN. @Harvard knows that this long overdue forced resignation of the antisemitic plagiarist president is just the beginning of what will be the greatest scandal of any college or university in history.https://t.co/ZJLxrHw1Zd
While Harvard's president is heading for the exits, there remain serious questions about the way Harvard's board handled the allegations, sought to sue reporters digging into the complaints into silence, and conducted its own investigation of the claims. Their lack of interest in anything but protecting President Gay — no matter the cost to the school's supposedly "elite" reputation — raises serious doubts about its ability to select a new interim and eventually permanent school president. After all, they selected Claudine Gay in the first place.
This is a developing story and may be updated.