A raft of knee-jerk reactions has come in the wake of Dr. Claudine Gay’s turmoil and subsequent resignation as president of Harvard University, and the situation warrants more than a brief editorial. It requires a deep dive into the current dilemma facing African American academics, particularly Black women.
When Gay’s situation first began getting traction in the media, many of our colleagues posed several questions about it, none more pregnant than whether she was obligated to appear before the House Education and Workforce Committee, led by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, whose motives have always been a concern. Even AI was not prepared to answer this query.
Gay’s response to Stefanik’s question of whether calls for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment at Harvard was the matter that had to be put in context. Later, in an interview with the Harvard Crimson, Gay apologized for her testimony, stating that she “got caught up in what had become at that point, an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures. What I should have had the presence of mind to do at that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community—threats to our Jewish students—have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged.”
Now that impulse, that second thought, would perhaps have negated all the outcry that followed, including the even more critical charges of plagiarism that led most decisively to her resignation.
Not a day went by that another assertion of plagiarism was announced, and along with rumors that donor funds were jeopardized, made her brief tenure as the first Black woman president at Harvard all the more imperiled.
“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,” Gay wrote in a letter to the Harvard community. “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. 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.”
Our hearts are heavy, too, and we are even more disturbed that her situation has been placed in the assault manual of rightwing commentators and elected officials who use her resignation as a sign of victory against “woke” activists.
Gay’s fall is not a time for celebration as we learn that it has been, unsurprisingly, cheered on by Stefanik, who said that the “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.”
What we should learn from this terrible incident is that folks who are antithetical to critical race theory and poised to ensure the continuance of white supremacy in our academies demand constant vigilance on our part. We must make sure we don’t give them more ammunition to bring us down.
Yes, Claudine Gay is no longer at the helm of this prestigious academy, but she returns to the classroom, where her students will be the immediate beneficiaries of her tribulations.
Reprinted from the Amsterdam News
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