WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Harvard University’s governing board will publicly declare support for the Ivy League school’s president on Tuesday, a day after meeting to weigh the public backlash following remarks she made last week at a congressional hearing on antisemitism.
The Harvard Corporation, the university’s governing body, was expected to announce the decision to back Harvard President Claudine Gay in a statement, the Harvard Crimson reported, citing an unidentified source familiar with the decision.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. A representative for Harvard did not respond to a request for comment on Monday regarding the board’s reported meeting.
Some donors, alumni and members of Congress called for Gay to resign, as her fellow Ivy League president at University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, did over the weekend. But many faculty and other alumni have rushed to defend Gay and asked the governing body to do the same.
A House of Representatives hearing last week increased public outcry over how U.S. colleges are handling campus protests since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel after three university presidents declined to answer “yes” or “no” when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate school codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.
Gay, Magill and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told lawmakers context was important and they had to take free speech into consideration. Gay later apologized for her remarks in an interview with Harvard’s student newspaper.
Jewish communities have said universities are tolerating antisemitism. Pro-Palestinian groups have accused the schools of being neutral or antagonistic towards their cause.
(Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
