Harvard University President Resigns

"It is with a heavy heart, but with deep love for Harvard, that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president. This decision has not been an easy one," Ms. Gay began.

She said it was in the best interests of Harvard, though she was heartbroken by the personal attacks. Ms. Gay said she would continue as a professor of African-American studies at the university.

Thus, Ms. Gay only held office for 6 months, the shortest of any president of Harvard University since the school was founded in 1636.

Harvard University said it accepted Ms Gay's resignation. In a statement, the school thanked her for her service as president and condemned some of the "racist" comments made about her.

The interim chancellor position is occupied by Alan M. Garber, an economist and chief academic officer of Harvard University.

Gay’s move comes after she faced a series of plagiarism allegations in The Washington Free Beacon, which said it had received 39 accusations, covering seven research papers, including her doctoral dissertation.

Gay's 1997 doctoral dissertation, "Taking Power: Black Electoral Victory and the Redefinition of American Politics," quoted extensively from a 1996 work by Bradley Palmquist and Stephen Voss, but failed to cite or place the text in quotation marks. Gay has also been accused of plagiarism in dozens of previous papers for "incomplete citations."

According to experts, this violates Harvard's citation rules, which state that "taking any ideas or language from another person without clearly citing that source in your paper is considered plagiarism." Notably, this is a work that has been awarded by the school for its excellent quality.

Responding to the allegations, she maintained that she had always maintained academic integrity and had added citations.

Harvard's governing board then backed Ms Gay, saying it had known about the allegations for some time and had investigated them and found "a number of instances of incomplete citations" in the two papers. However, the violations did not rise to the level of "research misconduct".

Gay has also been heavily criticized for her ambiguous response to anti-Semitism on campus in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Asked in a congressional hearing on December 5 whether calling for genocide against Jews violated Harvard's bullying and harassment policy and asked to answer yes or no, she said: "It could, depending on the circumstances."

Harvard Hillel, the board that promotes Jewish student life on campus, said it did not trust her to protect Jewish students. Many called for her resignation.

Dr. Claudine Gay, 53, was born in New York to Haitian immigrants. She took office in July 2023, becoming the first person of color to hold the position at Harvard in its nearly 390-year history.