Gay faced several plagiarism accusations and was panned for her congressional appearance about Harvard’s response to antisemitic hate speech on campus.
Harvard’s embattled president Claudine Gay announced that she is resigning from her post Tuesday afternoon.
In a statement, Gay said “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.”
The Harvard Crimson and The Boston Globe were the first to report that Gay will step down Tuesday.
The university and the Harvard Corporation, which oversees the university, had previously stood by Gay in public statements.
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The news comes as Gay, the first woman of color to lead America’s oldest university, remains a subject of political and congressional scrutiny after her widely panned appearance before the House Education and Workforce Committee in December. Gay’s testimony, alongside other university presidents’, was criticized for its legalistic tone as Republican lawmakers pressed the administrators on their efforts to combat antisemitic hate speech on campus.
It also follows a barrage of allegations that Gay, who completed her doctorate at Harvard in 1997 and taught at the university, plagiarized passages of other scholars’ writings in her dissertation and other academic papers.
A review in December found that Gay used “duplicative language without proper attribution.” It further found that her actions were “regrettable,” yet did not rise to the level of “research misconduct” as the incidences were not “intentional or reckless.”
The House Education and Workforce Committee announced in December that it would investigate the allegations of plagiarism against Gay.
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