Harvard undergraduates wrote an editorial in the university’s student newspaper urging embattled President Claudine Gay to quit after weeks of charges of antisemitism and plagiarism.
“University President Claudine Gay should resign,” the article with the headline, “Dissent: For Harvard’s Sake, It’s Time to Let Gay Go,” began with the headline, “Harvard’s presidency is no mere empty honor; it is a deeply challenging managerial job with deeply challenging duties, not least of which is navigating national outcry,” the editorial went on to say.
“In each of these respects, Gay has failed,” the students wrote in the Harvard Crimson. “The Harvard Corporation must find a leader who can do better.”
Brooks B. Anderson and Joshua A. Kaplan, Crimson Opinion Writers, presented their opinions in a “dissenting op-ed,” which is not the paper’s official position. The Crimson editorial board is occasionally divided on a topic, allowing dissenting board members to express their objections in a separate editorial, according to the paper.
In addition to her contentious testimony before Congress and her “botched” public responses to the Israel-Hamas war following the October 7 terrorist attack, which included “out-of-touch email after out-of-touch email to the student body, which totaled five in the end,” Anderson and Kaplan stated that the “situation seems to worsen with every passing week” as she appears to have plagiarized multiple portions of academic papers.
Furthermore, an unnamed student and member of Harvard’s Honor Council submitted an op-ed that was published in the Harvard Crimson on Sunday, claiming Gay is “getting off easy” in light of her recent plagiarism claims.
“I have served as a voting member of the Harvard College Honor Council, the body tasked with upholding the College’s community standards of academic integrity,” the student said. “I heard dozens of cases during my time on the Council.” Students – my classmates, peers, and friends — are disturbed when they appear before the council. For the majority of students, it is the worst day of their college lives. It is the hardest day of their lives for some. They frequently weep.”
Gay should quit “for her numerous and serious violations of academic ethics,” according to the student, because of first-hand experiences proving how heartbreaking, but important, such decisions may be. In addition, the student contended that evidence showed Gay’s plagiarism was “routine and pervasive” throughout her career.
“When my peers are found responsible for multiple instances of inadequate citation, they are often suspended for an academic year,” the student stated in his essay. “When the president of their university is found responsible for the same types of infractions, the fellows of the Corporation ‘unanimously stand in support of’ her.”
“There is one standard for me and my peers and another, much lower standard for our University’s president,” the student said. “The Corporation should resolve the double standard by demanding her resignation.”
In their dissenting editorial, the two students criticized the Harvard Crimson and their fellow editorial board members for arguing that President Gay should remain in office despite widespread plagiarism.
“Because our peers avoid reckoning with the severity of Gay’s failures, dismissing instances of explicit plagiarism as insufficient to warrant her resignation, we respectfully dissent,” they said.
“As students, we are completely exhausted,” they continued.
They admit that Gay “may be a good person” or “may even be a praiseworthy scholar, despite the allegations,” but that isn’t enough to keep him as president of Harvard.
“The leader of the world’s foremost university must be held to a higher standard, one that Gay has unfortunately failed to meet,” they said. “It is clear to us that Gay’s continued presidency is detrimental to the University.” Gay must leave for the sake of Harvard.”