[ad_1]
Former President Obama reportedly went to bat for Harvard University’s now-former president behind the scenes in an try and preserve her within the college’s prime position, however he has been silent for the reason that resignation announcement ignited a firestorm on social media.
A confidential supply acquainted with the matter advised Jewish Insider in late December that Obama, a Harvard graduate, had privately lobbied on Claudine Gay’s behalf after her congressional look about antisemitism and threats towards Jewish college students on the Ivy League campus.
“It sounded like people were being asked to close ranks to keep the broader administration stable, including its composition,” the supply mentioned of Obama’s involvement.
Obama’s push to save lots of Gay’s job was an unsuccessful one. Gay introduced Tuesday that she is stepping down as the college’s president however is staying on as a member of the college.
CRITICS CHEER RESIGNATION OF ‘ANTISEMITIC PLAGIARIST’ HARVARD PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY: ‘BYE FELICIA’
Former President Obama, Left, and former Harvard President Claudine Gay, Right. (Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to Obama’s workplace a number of occasions for remark, however didn’t obtain a response.
“This is not a decision I came to easily,” Gay wrote in her resignation letter to the Harvard group. “Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great university across centuries. But, after consultation with members of the Corporation, it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.”
Gay’s tenure because the shortest Harvard presidency within the college’s historical past got here to a detailed after she testified earlier than Congress final month and struggled to reply a direct query from New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik about condemning genocide towards Jewish folks as one thing that violated Harvard’s code of conduct.
Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard University on Jan. 2, 2024.
After her congressional testimony, Gay issued an apology and the college’s board in the end determined to stay by her regardless of widespread calls from donors and members of Congress for her ouster. The listening to got here in response to rising antisemitism at American universities following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist assaults in southern Israel.
After the testimony, Gay discovered herself dealing with dozens of plagiarism allegations first reported on by the Washington Free Beacon that included this declare: “In a 2001 article, Gay lifts nearly half a page of material verbatim from another scholar, David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.” The whole variety of plagiarism allegations towards Gay are close to 50, or “half of Gay’s published works,” in line with the Free Beacon.
Former President Obama (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“Elise Stefanik won,” Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks posted on X on Tuesday. “Barack Obama lost.”
“Neither the resignation from Claudine Gay nor the statement from the Harvard Corporation included any apology for the morally bankrupt testimony,” Stefanik posted on X after Gay’s resignation.
“Neither statement included any mention of their failure to protect Jewish students on campus or a pledge to combat antisemitism. As I said, this is just the beginning of a reckoning.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink