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An open letter, addressed to the Harvard Corporation, has reached 686 signatures from faculty members, according to the Harvard Crimson.
Faculty members wrote:
“We, the undersigned faculty, urge you in the strongest possible terms to defend the independence of the university and to resist political pressures that are at odds with Harvard’s commitment to academic freedom, including calls for the removal of President Claudine Gay. The critical work of defending a culture of free inquiry in our diverse community cannot proceed if we let its shape be dictated by outside forces.”
Gay testified in Congress on Tuesday, Dec. 5, along with University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill and MIT President Sally A. Kornbluth, in a hearing about antisemitism on campuses.
During the hearing, Gay declined to answer a question from Rep. Elise M. Stefanik (R-N.Y.) about whether students calling for the genocide of Jewish people violates Harvard’s bullying and harassment policies.
Gay apologized after her testimony:
“I’m sorry. What I should have had the presence of mind to do in 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.”
Harvard also issued a statement to try and clarify her comments.
But many social media users were still outraged.
"Why was Claudine Gay unable to say this at the hearing and it took universal outrage and condemnation for you to issue this clarification?" one person replied to Harvard's post. "Too little too late," posted another.
Several people simply commented "resign" beneath the X post.
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