Harvard board backs university president after congressional remarks

“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 11-member board wrote.

Its decision was first reported by the Harvard Crimson. A representative for Harvard on Monday did not respond to a request for comment on the board’s reported meeting.

Some donors, alumni and members of Congress called for Gay to resign, as her fellow Ivy League president at University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, did over the weekend. But many faculty and other alumni have rushed to defend Gay and asked the governing body to do the same.

A House of Representatives hearing last week increased public outcry over how U.S. colleges are handling campus protests since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel after three university presidents declined to answer “yes” or “no” when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate school codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment. Gay, Magill and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told lawmakers context was important and they had to take free speech into consideration. Gay later apologized for her remarks in an interview with Harvard’s student newspaper.

Jewish communities have said universities are tolerating antisemitism. Pro-Palestinian groups have accused the schools of being neutral or antagonistic towards their cause.

From the homepage

Devendra Fadnavis orders probe into alleged Pune land deal linked to Ajit Pawar’s son Parth

ED attaches Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan’s Rs 11.14 crore assets in betting app money laundering probe

Video of prisoners dancing in Ranchi jail goes viral, 2 officials suspended