Over 500 faculty members have signed a letter supporting Harvard University President Claudine Gay, who has come under fire over the past week for her testimony at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism.
In the letter, the faculty members urged the school's top governing body, "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," according to The Crimson student newspaper. “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."
The Harvard Corporation convened two days of previously scheduled meetings with the Harvard Board of Overseers on Sunday. Those meetings are not open to the public, and it's unclear if anything will come out of those meetings Monday regarding Gay's tenure at the university.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
More than 70 members of Congress have called on Gay to resign after her remarks last week, which the White House and others said failed to demonstrate she would stand up to antisemitism on campus.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, who also testified at last week's congressional hearing, resigned Saturday after receiving criticism for her testimony, where she struggled to answer a question about whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated the college's rules.
Gay apologized for her remarks the next day in an interview with The Crimson student newspaper, saying she got caught up in a heated exchange at the House committee hearing and failed to properly denounce threats of violence against Jewish students.
Gay's, Magill's and MIT President Sally Kornbluth's testimony have drawn intense national backlash, with donors, alumni and members of Congress in both parties calling for their resignations.
At issue was a line of questioning that asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the universities' code of conduct. At last week's hearing, Gay said it depended on the context, adding that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.”
Gay told The Crimson she was sorry, saying she “got caught up in what had become at that point, an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures.”
“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," Gay said.
Two Harvard faculty members who signed the letter supporting Gay spoke with NBC10 Boston on Monday.
"Oh, I totally support Claudine Gay," Harvard Medical School faculty member Dr. Sarah Johnstone said. "Because it looks like Congress donors are trying to take out the first African American president, and she hasn't had any egregious missteps. She's come clearly out against antisemitism, so this is ridiculous."
"I personally don't think her actions merit her going," added Martin Aryee, a professor at Harvard Medical School. "I think the university needs to have its own discussion, but apart from that, I think Gay's actions have been very good. I think she had some missteps in her statements to Congress, she definitely said the wrong things, and she apologized."
Aryee said the faculty members are hoping that their letter will have an impact on Monday's meeting, but acknowledged that in the end, they don't have much influence.
Universities across the U.S. have been accused of failing to protect Jewish students amid reports of growing antisemitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The three presidents were called before the committee to answer those accusations, but their lawyerly answers drew renewed blowback from opponents.
The White House joined the criticism of Gay, Magill and Kornbluth, with a spokesperson saying calls for genocide are “monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country.”
The episode has marred Gay's early tenure at Harvard — she became president in July — and sowed discord at the Ivy League campus. On Thursday, Rabbi David Wolpe resigned from a new committee on antisemitism created by Gay.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Wolpe said “events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I cannot make the sort of difference I had hoped.” A statement from Gay thanked Wolpe for his work, saying he helped deepen her understanding “of the unacceptable presence of antisemitism here at Harvard.”
The Republican-led House committee announced Thursday it will investigate the policies and disciplinary procedures at Harvard, MIT and Penn. Separate federal civil rights investigations were previously opened at Harvard, Penn and several other universities in response to complaints submitted to the U.S. Education Department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
