Trump: Ex-president Claudine Gay set Harvard back ’50 to 100 years’

Former President Trump recently weighed in on Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation in the wake of controversy surrounding antisemitism and plagiarism at the university.

“Claudine Gay has set Harvard back 50 to 100 years,” Trump posted Wednesday evening to his Truth Social site. “Other than that, she has done a great job!!!”

Gay resigned from her position Tuesday after multiple scandals clouded her short tenure. She sent an email to Harvard’s community announcing her resignation, saying that after discussion, “it has become clear” that it was in the university’s best interests for her to leave.

She has faced two major controversies in just a few weeks.

Gay was called to testify at a House hearing on the rise in campus antisemitism related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. During the fiery hearing, she was asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) if calls for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment by the school’s standard.

Gay — along with then-University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth, who remains in her position — said it would depend on the context and refused to provide a clear-cut answer. The response sparked fierce criticism following the hearing with many calls for her to resign or be removed by the school’s board.

She also came under fire for concerns about plagiarism in her academic papers. An analysis found no violations of the school’s standards for research misconduct, but more allegations arose, and Gay sent in more corrections to her past work.

All of it combined to lead to the Jan. 2 resignation by Gay, which has been celebrated by Stefanik and several other Republicans who hosted the original House hearing.

“TWO DOWN,” the lawmaker posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, following the announcement. “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.”

The Harvard Crimson broke the news, noting it was the shortest tenure for a president in the history of the Ivy League school. Gay assumed office as university president July 1, 2023.

In an op-ed in the New York Times on Wednesday, Gay warned that her resignation could be a sign of a “campaign” against higher education.

She also said she was worried the attack on her academic record, fueled by conservative figures, could mark a trend in a “broader war to unravel pubic faith in pillars of American society.”

“Trusted institutions of all types — from public health agencies to news organizations — will continue to fall victim to coordinated attempts to undermine their legitimacy and ruin their leaders’ credibility,” she wrote.

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