Harvard’s governing board is facing calls from faculty to resign, as critics say the university’s reputation has taken a “substantial hit” over its response to President Claudine Gay’s plagiarism scandal and how she handled a congressional hearing on antisemitism.
Faculty members have urged the Harvard Corporation, the university’s board, to resign or apologize — and one professor has proposed that state lawmakers should appoint one seat to represent the public, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
“They’re under pressure, that’s obvious,” former Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Flier told the newspaper. “They are the fiduciary body and no one will deny that Harvard’s reputation has taken a very substantial hit in the world.
“It’s on their watch that it’s happening,” he added.
Kit Parker, professor of bioengineering and applied physics, said the university’s future is in jeopardy and that the board members need to step down.
“The big question now is, how arrogant is Harvard? And when I say Harvard, I mean the Harvard Corporation. Do they think this is going to go away?” Parker told the paper.
Another professor has called on Massachusetts lawmakers to appoint a government official to the board to represent the public interest. It would fall under a clause in the state constitution that reserves authority over Harvard to the state legislature, the newspaper reported.
The firestorm surrounding Gay began with her hearing before the House Education Committee earlier this month in which she was evasive about whether antisemitic chants violated the campus’ code of conduct.
As she faced pressure to resign over her testimony, it was revealed that the Harvard Corporation had investigated Gay over accusations of plagiarism and the university was issuing corrections to two academic journals, to acknowledge where her work had really come from.
The Washington Free Beacon later published a story, highlighting additional incidents of possible plagiarism.
“I stand by the integrity of my scholarship. Throughout my career, I have worked to ensure my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards,” Gay told The Boston Globe in response.
Harvard Spokesman Jonathan Swain responded to a request for comment about backlash from faculty against the corporation by referring to its Dec. 12 statement of “unanimous support” of Gay.
“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University. 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 group said in the Dec. 12 statement.
