As Townhall reported earlier on Tuesday, alleged serial plagiarist and president of Harvard Claudine Gay resigned her post, thereby setting the record for the shortest presidential tenure in the supposedly "elite" school's hundreds of years of history.
After the student-run Harvard Crimson broke the news of President Gay's imminent resignation, Harvard circulated a full letter from its disgraced and scandal-plagued leader. Here's what she had to say for herself, seemingly without much self-awareness:
Dear Members of the Harvard Community,
It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president. This is not a decision I came to easily. Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great university across centuries. But, after consultation with members of the Corporation, it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.
It is a singular honor to be a member of this university, which has been my home and my inspiration for most of my professional career. My deep sense of connection to Harvard and its people has made it all the more painful to witness the tensions and divisions that have riven our community in recent months, weakening the bonds of trust and reciprocity that should be our sources of strength and support in times of crisis. Amidst all of this, it has 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.
I believe in the people of Harvard because I see in you the possibility and the promise of a better future. These last weeks have helped make clear the work we need to do to build that future—to combat bias and hate in all its forms, to create a learning environment in which we respect each other’s dignity and treat one another with compassion, and to affirm our enduring commitment to open inquiry and free expression in the pursuit of truth. I believe we have within us all that we need to heal from this period of tension and division and to emerge stronger. I had hoped with all my heart to lead us on that journey, in partnership with all of you. As I now return to the faculty, and to the scholarship and teaching that are the lifeblood of what we do, I pledge to continue working alongside you to build the community we all deserve.
When I became president, I considered myself particularly blessed by the opportunity to serve people from around the world who saw in my presidency a vision of Harvard that affirmed their sense of belonging—their sense that Harvard welcomes people of talent and promise, from every background imaginable, to learn from and grow with one another. To all of you, please know that those doors remain open, and Harvard will be stronger and better because they do.
As we welcome a new year and a new semester, I hope we can all look forward to brighter days. Sad as I am to be sending this message, my hopes for Harvard remain undimmed. When my brief presidency is remembered, I hope it will be seen as a moment of reawakening to the importance of striving to find our common humanity—and of not allowing rancor and vituperation to undermine the vital process of education. I trust we will all find ways, in this time of intense challenge and controversy, to recommit ourselves to the excellence, the openness, and the independence that are crucial to what our university stands for—and to our capacity to serve the world.
Sincerely,
Claudine Gay
After patting herself on the back as a person of "talent and promise" and hoping in vain that her brief time as president will be remembered as "a moment of reawakening" to something about "common humanity," she refuses to address the nearly 50 allegations of plagiarism in her works and instead chooses to invoke "the excellence, the openness, and the independence that are crucial" to what Harvard supposedly stands for.
Never mind, apparently, that Gay allegedly and repeatedly was anything but independent in the thoughts she put to paper, nor was the Harvard Corporation open about what she had done when the school was contacted about the allegations of plagiarism. In fact, Gay is alleged to have essentially copied and pasted entire paragraphs from other scholars into her writings and routinely failed to use quotation marks or citations to the original works. Then, once confronted with the accusations, Harvard threatened to sue the New York Post for reporting on the allegations before rushing through its own review of the complaints only to conclude that there wasn't anything wrong with her, ahem, "creative" writing style.
President Gay was dealt the first serious blow courtesy of House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in a hearing regarding antisemitic incidents on campus. After failing to condemn or state that calling for the elimination of Israel or the genocide of Jews violated Harvard policies, President Gay was then embroiled in another scandal after multiple rounds of plagiarism allegations rocked her limited body of scholarly work, developments which came to light courtesy of dogged reporting in conservative outlets including the Washington Free Beacon.
I’m not sure what bothers the radical left more right now: That Gay resigned or that she was brought down by @EliseStefanik and the @FreeBeacon.
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) January 2, 2024
In a statement, Stefanik said on Tuesday that the "resignation of Harvard's antisemitic plagiarist president is long overdue" and noted that "Claudine Gay's morally bankrupt answers" to her questions "made history as the most viewed congressional testimony in the history of the U.S. Congress." The answers given by Gay during the hearing were "absolutely pathetic and devoid of the moral leadership and academic integrity required of the President of Harvard," Stefanik — a Harvard alumna — emphasized. "This is just the beginning of what will be the greatest scandal of any college or university in history."
Despite Gay's resignation, Stefanik pledged to "always deliver results" and said that the "robust congressional investigation will continue to move forward to expose the rot in our most 'prestigious' higher education institutions and deliver accountability to the American people."
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