(New York) The now ex-president of Harvard University in the United States admitted on Wednesday, the day after her resignation, to having made mistakes, but believes she had been the target of a continuous campaign “of lies and insults.”
Claudine Gay left her post on Tuesday after accusations of plagiarism fueled by a conservative site, and criticism linked to her responses during a parliamentary hearing on the fight against anti-Semitism on campuses.
This professor of political science became in July the first black president of the prestigious university located near Boston.
“Those who have campaigned tirelessly to oust me since the fall have often used lies and ad hominem insults, not reasoned arguments,” she wrote in an op-ed published by the New York Times.
“The campaign against me went beyond a single university and a single leader. “This was barely a skirmish in a broader war aimed at undermining public trust in the pillars of American society,” the academic says as a “warning.”
Since the bloody attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, followed by devastating bombings by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, the conflict has unleashed passions in the most renowned American universities.
PHOTO KEVIN DIETSCH, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Claudine Gay and Liz McGill during their appearance before Congress on December 5.
Tuesday, December 5, in a tense atmosphere, Claudine Gay and her counterparts from the University of Pennsylvania and MIT answered questions from parliamentarians for five hours.
When Republican elected official Elise Stefanik asked whether “calling for the genocide of the Jews violated the rules on harassment at Harvard, yes or no?” », Claudine Gay replied: “It can, depending on the context”, before adding: “If it is directed against a person. »
His response and that of his counterparts, visibly anxious not to call into question the sacrosanct right to freedom of expression, caused an outcry even at the White House.
More than 70 parliamentarians, including two Democrats, as well as former students and renowned donors had called for the departure of Mr.me Gay. The president, however, received the support of the educational community and was retained in her position in mid-December.