Harvard President Resigns From Office as Scandals Deepen

(UnitedVoice.com) – When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) appointed conservative Christopher Rufo to the board of New College in Sarasota, there was an outpouring of anger. The activist is known for his desire to reshape education and make it more right-wing. He, along with the other governor-appointed board members, reshaped the school to be the most conservative college in the South. Then, Rufo set his sights on Harvard.

Weeks later, the president of the Ivy League school has resigned after sustained pressure from Rufo and others.

Gay Out

On December 5, Harvard President Claudine Gay joined two other university presidents to testify before Congress about the response to the rise in antisemitism on college campuses. During the hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) asked her if someone was violating Harvard’s rules for bullying and harassment by “calling for the genocide of Jews.” Gay said it would depend “on the context.”

After people expressed outrage over her remarks, Gay apologized for her words. The university’s board quickly expressed its support for the president and said she would be staying on.

Rufo and others moved to oust her anyway. After weeks of pressure and allegations of plagiarism, Gay resigned from her position. On January 2, she sent a letter to members of the school’s community and said she was stepping down from her position “with a heavy heart.” Gay said that the decision to resign wasn’t one that she made easily, but that it was “in the best interests of Harvard” for her to step aside.

Rufo’s Crusade

On December 10, Rufo and conservative journalist Christopher Brunet published allegations that Gay plagiarized the work of other scholars. Rufo told POLITICO that Gay’s resignation was the result of a very organized and coordinated campaign by conservatives to push her out. He said, “It shows a successful strategy for the political right.” The publication also pointed out that the reason he was successful is that Gay did have a history of using other people’s words in her own work. In fact, nearly 50 of her works have been found to contain plagiarism.

Critics called the conservative effort to push Gay out racist because she was the school’s first black president. Rufo countered that argument on X, formerly Twitter, and said Gay was the real racist. He said she oversaw the racist affirmative action admissions program at Harvard that the Supreme Court struck down. However, it should be noted she was not the president of the school at that time. Rufo also accused her of pushing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at the school.

I don't like playing the racism tabulation game, but, given that Claudine Gay's defense has amounted to smearing her opponents as racist, let's put it to the test, comparing Claudine Gay's racism to that of her critics.

Evidence that Gay is racist:

–Oversaw a discriminatory…

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 4, 2024