The Harvard University board is under pressure to resign over its handling of the anti-Semitism furor.
In the wake of burgeoning calls for Gay to resign, faculty members are now also turning the spotlight on the other 11 members of the Harvard Corporation – the Ivy League’s powerful governing body which continues to support her.
One professor has even suggested an overhaul of the governance structure to give lawmakers the opportunity to appoint board members who represent the public interest, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, the former Harvard Medical School dean Jeffrey Flier said he told board members Tracy Palandjian and Paul Finnegan to do more to address the ongoing turmoil surrounding the school.
‘You need to be more out front of this,’ Flier recalled telling the execs, as he spoke with the New York Times. ‘If people are saying the university is making mistakes, they are talking about you!’
In the wake of burgeoning calls for President Claudine Gay (pictured) to resign, faculty members are now also turning the spotlight on the other 11 members of the Harvard Corporation – the Ivy League’s powerful governing body which continues to support her
Former Harvard Medical School dean Jeffrey Flier said he told board members Tracy Palandjian (left) and Paul Finnegan (right) to do more to address the ongoing turmoil
‘They’re under pressure, that’s obvious,’ Flier added while speaking with the WSJ.
‘They are the fiduciary body and no one will deny that Harvard’s reputation has taken a very substantial hit in the world… It’s on their watch that it’s happening.’
Professor Kit Parker said that the school faces a fork in the road and the board members must resign in order for it to choose the right path.
‘The big question now is, how arrogant is Harvard?’ the professor of bioengineering and applied physics told the WSJ.
‘And when I say Harvard, I mean the Harvard Corporation. Do they think this is going to go away?’
‘I haven’t always gotten it right,’ said Harvard President Dr. Claudine Gay in her opening remarks
Gay sparked fury during a congressional hearing earlier this month after she said that it depended on context whether calls for the genocide of Jews at Harvard constituted harassment and violated the rules.
The president, who has recently denied reports that she is also a plagiarizer, first triggered outrage following the October 7 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel with a tepid condemnation of the attack.
She subsequently issued two apologies that offered more vociferous condemnation of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group behind the atrocities.
Gay has been slammed for taking a pro-free speech stance on hatred towards Jews at a campus recently branded the most censorious in the United States.
New students are warned that failing to use a person’s requested pronoun or being ‘fatphobic’ could constitute violence.
The Harvard Corporation admitted that she should have condemned Hamas’ attack in Israel sooner, but gave its full support for her continuing in her role.
‘Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing,’ the board said in a statement.
It added: ‘So many people have suffered tremendous damage and pain because of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack, and the University’s initial statement should have been an immediate, direct, and unequivocal condemnation.
The Harvard Corporation, formally the President and Fellows of Harvard College, has 12 members, including Gay, former president of Amherst College Biddy Martin and former American Express CEO Kenneth I. Chenault.
Gay, the school’s first black president, was appointed to the post in July 2023.