Harvard president remains in office after anti-Semitism debate
The dispute over the conflict in the Middle East is also being played out at universities in the USA. The president of the elite Harvard University is coming under enormous pressure due to statements on anti-Semitism at universities. But she is also receiving support.
Following criticism of her statements on the subject of anti-Semitism, the president of the elite US university Harvard, Claudine Gay, remains in office. The Harvard Corporation, the university's governing body, backed the 53-year-old politics professor: "Today we reaffirm our support for President Gay's continued leadership of Harvard University."
Gay had "apologized" for her controversial remarks at a congressional hearing, the governing body of the world-famous university near Boston in the US state of Massachusetts added. "And she has pledged to strengthen the university's fight against anti-Semitism."
Gay - the first African-American female president in Harvard's history - was questioned last week along with the presidents of the elite universities University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at a congressional hearing on the subject of anti-Semitism at universities. The presidents gave evasive answers to the question of whether students who call for the "genocide of Jews" on campus violate the universities' rules of conduct.
Gay, for example, said: "It depends on the context." This was followed by massive criticism and calls for the resignation of the three university presidents. The head of the prestigious University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Elizabeth Magill, resigned at the weekend.
Alongside the criticism, however, there was also support for the female university presidents. Harvard professor Ryan Enos, for example, explained with regard to the calls for her resignation, particularly from the ranks of conservative Republicans: "The reason she (Gay) was forced to resign is because of political pressure from politicians who want to shape universities to their own ideas." In a free society, however, universities should not be run by the state.
Since the attack on Israel by the radical Islamic group Hamas on October 7 and the subsequent start of the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, anti-Semitic incidents and hate crimes against Jews, but also Muslims, have increased in the USA. There have also been anti-Semitic actions at universities.
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Despite the controversy surrounding her comments on anti-Semitism, the International Council of Harvard University stood by its president, Claudine Gay. The council acknowledges Gay's apology and her commitment to strengthening the university's efforts against international antisemitism.
Source: www.ntv.de
