Claudine Gay stepped down as Harvard’s president on Tuesday—the culmination of months of controversy over her response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, her disastrous congressional testimony along with the heads of UPenn and MIT, and finally, mounting plagiarism allegations in her academic papers and dissertation. In her Jan. 2 resignation letter, Gay said it was in Harvard’s best interest that she step down so the focus can once again be on the university, not her.
She also did not miss the opportunity to blame racism, however, writing that it’s “been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor—two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am—and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”
In a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday evening, she doubled down on that argument.
“Never did I imagine needing to defend decades-old and broadly respected research, but the past several weeks have laid waste to truth. Those who had relentlessly campaigned to oust me since the fall often trafficked in lies and ad hominem insults, not reasoned argument. They recycled tired racial stereotypes about Black talent and temperament. They pushed a false narrative of indifference and incompetence,” Gay wrote, also mentioning that she’s “been called the N-word more times than I care to count."
She added: "It is not lost on me that I make an ideal canvas for projecting every anxiety about the generational and demographic changes unfolding on American campuses: a Black woman selected to lead a storied institution. Someone who views diversity as a source of institutional strength and dynamism."
In the op-ed, Gay acknowledged making “mistakes” in her initial response to the Hamas attack. As for her congressional testimony, she claims she “fell into a well-laid trap,” though she was the third witness to be asked the exact same question by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). And regarding the plagiarism allegations, Gay claimed when she learned of them “I promptly requested corrections from the journals in which the flagged articles were published…”—a point critics dispute.
NEW: Claudine Gay writes a goodbye essay in the NYThttps://t.co/GYSlUgtCtM
— Chris Brunet (@realChrisBrunet) January 3, 2024
''My critics found instances where some material duplicated other scholars’ language ... When I learned of these errors, I promptly requested corrections from the journals.''
FACT CHECK: FALSE
When… pic.twitter.com/X7nTmiFjg5
Despite the "duplicated" language in her writing without proper attribution, Gay said she "proudly" stands by her work "and its impact on the field."
"My research marshaled concrete evidence to show that when historically marginalized communities gain a meaningful voice in the halls of power, it signals an open door where before many saw only barriers. And that, in turn, strengthens our democracy," she said.
But political scientist Carol Swain, whose work Gay allegedly plagiarized, believes it wasn't just a few words she ripped off, but that her “whole research agenda, her whole career, was based on my work.”
BREAKING: Claudine Gay just published an op-ed in the NYT where she decries attacks on "education and expertise," says she "fell into a well-laid trap" before Congress, and says that the people to called for her firing "trafficked in lies and stereotypes about black talent." pic.twitter.com/in2MxNt0Z1
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 3, 2024
I see Claudine Gay has gone out with guns blazing in this NYT op-ed. It is peak delusion and utterly disingenuous. https://t.co/gdd7U5MpJi
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) January 3, 2024
Gay may have stepped down as Harvard's president, but she will remain on faculty where she is expected to keep her nearly $900,000 salary.