Decryption | The scalp of the president of Harvard

“Scalped!” » Last Tuesday, with great joy at having contributed to the resignation of the president of Harvard University, Claudine Gay, the conservative activist Christopher Rufo spoke on X of the horrible practice borrowed from certain tribes by white settlers in their genocidal campaign against Native Americans.

The first person of color and second woman to lead the prestigious institution founded in 1636, Gay left her post due to controversies raised by her evasive answers on anti-Semitism during a congressional hearing and accusations of plagiarism.

But the scalp of this daughter of Haitian immigrants, whose presidency lasted only six months, is not the end of the story. It is, in fact, just the most high-profile episode in an ambitious campaign by Rufo and his allies to eliminate programs intended to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in American institutions. , including universities and businesses.

“Today we celebrate victory,” wrote Rufo, already known for his fight against the supposed teaching of critical race theory in elementary and secondary schools. “Tomorrow we will resume the fight. We must not stop until we abolish DEI ideology from all American institutions. »

Claudine Gay was one of the greatest symbols of this ideology, in the eyes of conservatives. As soon as he was appointed president of Harvard, they criticized the “thinness” of his production – 11 peer-reviewed articles – and the speed of the process leading to his selection. Many concluded that Gay, who had served as dean of Harvard’s top faculty, was chosen not because of her experience, but because of the color of her skin and her gender.

Billionaire investor William Ackman, a Harvard alumnus and donor, echoed this criticism after Gay’s decried performance before a House of Representatives committee on December 7. (Asked whether the call for Jewish genocide violated Harvard’s rules on intimidation or harassment, she wavered: “It might, depending on the context.”)

“Reducing the number of applicants based on race, gender or sexual orientation is not the right approach to determining the best leaders for our most prestigious universities,” Ackman wrote on X, where the financier has over 1 million subscribers.

Vox Populi vox dei ?

Most conservative politicians share Rufo and Ackman’s fear of DEI programs, fruits of the “wokism” they denounce. In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law two of the 40 bills that were introduced last July in 22 US states to restrict or abolish these programs at public universities, according to data compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

In the workplace, the public does not seem to share this fear. According to a Pew Research Center survey released last May, only 16% of American workers view DEI initiatives as a bad thing.

However, according to critics of its effects in the academic world, the DEI ideology has not only generated a bureaucracy that influences the recruitment of students and professors to the detriment of merit, it has also harmed academic freedom by driving out of certain campuses of professors and by imposing oaths of allegiance to diversity.

In Gay’s case, accusations of plagiarism, of which Rufo made himself one of the main conduits, added to the controversy over anti-Semitism to create a perfect storm. On December 12, the Harvard Corporation revealed that a review had found “a few instances of improper citations” but “no violations of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.”

Still, by the end of December, Gay concluded that she had lost the support of university administrators. The day she announced her resignation, the conservative site Washington Free Beacon revealed passages from one of her articles that should have been attributed to David Cannon, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, according to its journalists (Cannon himself- even denied that it was plagiarism).

In a column published by the New York Times Last week, Gay admitted errors in how she responded to Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, as well as to questions about anti-Semitism during the congressional hearing. However, she defended the originality and influence of her academic production.

After alluding to the death threats and racist insults aimed at her, she also issued a warning about the campaign led by Rufo and his allies.

Voices came to Gay’s defense. Tressie McMillan Cottom, a professor at the University of North Carolina, notably denounced how the “spectre” of DEI initiatives had tainted Gay’s presidency. In a text also published by the New York Timesshe recalled that Harvard’s opening to people who have been marginalized or historically disadvantaged – women, Jews or immigrants – has always raised fears about their “merit”.

But, she wrote, “every time politicians, activists, and investors agree that there is a merit crisis at Harvard, that means a battle is raging, not for rigor, but for power.”