Former Harvard President Claudine Gay, the first Black person to lead the prestigious university, resigned on Tuesday amid allegations of plagiarism. Gay came under fire in early December after a hearing on antisemitism pushed her into the crosshairs of conservative media and commentators — who called her an unqualified diversity hire.
Black scholars immediately began using social media to share their thoughts about Gay’s firing. Here’s what they had to say.
The first person we should probably here from on the subject is Claudine Gay herself.
“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,” wrote Gay. “This is not a decision I came to easily. Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with as many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great university across centuries.”
Nikole Hannah Jones, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist 1619 and founder of the Inaugural Knight Chair in Journalism and Race at Howard University, had plenty to say about Gay’s resignation. Jones
“Let’s be real,” wrote Jones in a post. “This is an extension of what happened to me at UNC, and it is a glimpse into the future to come. Academic freedom is under attack. Racial justice programs are under attack. Black women will be made to pay. Our so-called allies too often lack any real courage.”
Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be An Antiracist and Director of Antiracist research at Boston University, knows a thing or two about controversy. Kendi quickly jumped into the fray to defend Gay.
“Racist mobs won’t stop until they topple all Black people from positions of power and influence who are not reinforcing the structure of racism,” he wrote on X. “What these racist mobs are doing should be obvious to any reporter who cares about truth or justice as opposed to conflicts and clicks.”
CUNY Professor and activist Marc Lamont Hill has faced his share of media backlash, particularly for his comments on Israel and Palestine. So his decision to weigh into Claudine Gay’s resignation didn’t come as much of a surprise.
“The next president of Harvard University MUST be a Black woman,” wrote Hill on X.
Dr. Uché Blackstock, Founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and a former Associate Professor at NYU Langone Health, is known for speaking out on issues of racial equity. So it’s not surprise that she was incredibly vocal after the resignation of Claudine Gay.
“We literally have to jump through hoops to make it into leadership positions at these PWIs, more often than not without the (generational) connections or resources, of our white peers,” she wrote. Then, we’re the ones who have our abilities questioned, when it should be the other way around.
Professor Hakeem Jefferson leads the inaugural Program on Identity, Democracy, and Justice at Stanford Law School. Professor Jefferson swiftly weighed-in on Gay being pushed out.
“These folks are on a mission & they are persistent,” he wrote on X. “And they will have many more “victories” as they set out to remake American education in their image. This has been going on for a while and we still are just at the beginning. But, yeah, the woke undergrads are the problem...”
Columbia University Assistant Professor Jonathan Collins also waded into the controversy over Claudine Gay’s firing.
“Obviously a terrible outcome,” wrote Professor Collins. “This was nothing short of a witch hunt. I just hope President Gay feels a burden lifted from her shoulders. Being unfairly targeted hurts, but nothing can ever change the fact that she made history.”
