In the wake of Claudine Gay's resignation as Harvard's President, The Washington Post has urged other higher education institutions to learn from the mistakes that led to her departure.
Gay's resignation was prompted by allegations of plagiarism and criticism of her handling of antisemitism on campus.
The Washington Post editorial board stated, "Harvard and other leading institutions of higher education would do well to reflect on how they themselves contributed to this debacle and how they can do better in the future." The board highlighted the backlash that Gay and former UPenn President Liz Magill received for their responses at a congressional hearing. They were criticized for using "bloodless, lawyerly language" when addressing questions about calls for genocide against Jews on campus.
The board suggested that the root cause of Gay's resignation was the conflict between elite colleges, which tend to lean left, and the broader society where populist conservatism is gaining traction. The board argued, "The lesson for Harvard and for all universities is that it was a mistake to create the expectation that university presidents must weigh in on the great issues of the day."
The board further stated that if university administrators refrained from pandering to left-wing activists on campus, they would be better equipped to resist activist voices from the right. They added that this approach would lend more credibility to their claims of respecting all speech, within uniformly applied time, manner, and place limitations.
The board also criticized Harvard and Gay for their inconsistent approach to free speech on campus, arguing that they often intervene when the speech "offends prevailing progressive sentiment."
In her resignation letter, Gay claimed to be a victim of racially motivated attacks but did not address the plagiarism allegations. She wrote, "It has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigortwo bedrock values that are fundamental to who I amand frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus."
The board emphasized that the role of a university is not to take sides in Americas culture wars. They argued that when universities appear to adopt a collective position, they undermine their purpose, signaling to students and faculty that there is only one right way to think.
The board concluded that Harvard and other universities were not "blameless" and urged them to seize this opportunity to learn.
Following Gay's resignation, liberal professors rallied to her defense, accusing her critics of being "racist mobs" and "fascist mouth-breathers." Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi posted on X, "Racist mobs wont stop until they topple all Black people from positions of power and influence who are not reinforcing the structure of racism."
Georgetown assistant professor Amanda Sahar d'Urso also defended Gay on social media, stating, "She definitely did not deserve this. I hope she can live her life in peace, for the sake of her mental and emotional well-being."
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