Wu rips Gay’s ouster
Blames ‘racial bias’ for demise of Harvard prez
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is defending Harvard President Claudine Gay after the campus’ shortest-ever tenured prez resigned following her explosive comments about antisemitism and as the leader faced plagiarism allegations.
Wu is blaming “racial bias” for Gay’s downfall at Harvard, noting that people against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) have been pushing hard for the president’s resignation. Gay was Harvard’s first Black president.
The Boston mayor, who graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, was asked about Gay during an interview yesterday.
“I’m just really saddened by how the whole thing played out,” Wu said on ‘Java with Jimmy.’
“I simply don’t believe that three minutes of a video clip, especially in a certain setting where you’re in a place where people are putting you in a ‘gotcha’ moment, that that should define everything,” she later added.
Gay has been under fire for several weeks after she testified in front of Congress about antisemitism on campus amid the Israel-Hamas war.
During the controversial Congressional hearing in front of a Republican-led House committee, Gay refused to characterize calls for the genocide of Jews as a breach of Harvard’s code of conduct. There has been a reported spike in antisemitism following the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. Jewish and Israeli students have been threatened and assaulted on campus.
“She (Gay) has even personally said that the words that were used in different settings were not the best ones that could have been used,” Wu said. “And I think anyone who’s in a position of leadership has a growth curve, and a learning curve, and just a few months into being in a role like that takes a lot.
“And I don’t think anyone, again, is trying to defend certain aspects of what happened, but it’s hard not to put the whole picture together and to look at the dynamics of what happened and how personally this was based, how much sort of racial bias was definitely connected to this,” the mayor added.
Gay’s top critics who were calling for her resignation have been “trying to get rid of DEI in universities for awhile now,” Wu said.
“People are now questioning the entire hiring process, and this and that,” she said. “Well, there are many, many times before when questions haven’t been asked about a lot of different situations.”
Meanwhile, reactions from groups have been flooding in following Gay’s resignation, as they push for what they want to see in the next campus leader.
“Whoever emerges to lead the university must embody the highest ideals of integrity and demonstrate moral clarity and total commitment to fight antisemitism with #ZeroTolerance in a way we have not fully seen at Harvard,” the Anti-Defamation League posted.
“ADL is prepared to work with new leadership to help foster a truly safe and inclusive campus,” ADL added.
Ahead of winter break, the leaders of Harvard Hillel had sent a letter to Gay and other campus leadership about what needs to change before the spring semester.
Those proposals included requiring antisemitism education for every student and faculty member, along with enforcing university policies on acceptable speech and the times, places, and acceptable manners of protest.
“The most important priority for Harvard Hillel is that our university is a safe and inclusive environment for Jewish students and for all students,” Harvard Hillel said after Gay’s resignation. “We look forward to continuing to work with the next president of Harvard and the rest of the senior University administration, to ensure that Jewish students are able to safely express their identities on our campus.
“At Harvard Hillel, we will continue to focus on keeping students safe, supporting their emotional health, fostering spiritual growth, and sustaining vibrant Jewish life,” Hillel added. “We also look forward to collaborating with University leadership on a number of important changes outlined in the letter we sent on December 19.”