New York Times editorial board member and highly respected math whiz Mara Gay said on MSNBC that the ousting of Harvard’s President, Claudine Gay, is an attack on “academic freedom” and “multiculturalism.”
Claudine Gay resigned from her position on Tuesday following immense backlash over her response to antisemitism on campus and the growing plagiarism scandal. The former president faced criticism after she refused to answer repeated questions on whether actions would be taken to counter growing antisemitism on campus. Gay has also faced allegations of plagiarizing more than 40 times in her publications and dissertations.
“Mara Gay, just looking at what’s been happening at campuses across the country your take on this latest news?” host Mika Brzezinski asked.
“The thing that really disturbs me is the unrelenting campaign from the right, and from some conservative activists to slander, discredit, and ultimately, I guess — you know, somebody used the phrase, we’ve claimed a scalp, I think, on social media, you know, to essentially unseat Gay and other presidents as well, when they don’t like, you know, not just the handling of the horrific attacks on Israel on October 7th, the way that that was handled on campus, but really anything else that they don’t like about not just these presidents, but actually what they would call wokeism on campus,” Gay said. (RELATED: ‘I Was Against Her On The Merits’: Alan Dershowitz Rejects Ousted Harvard President’s Claim Of ‘Racial Animus’)
“So this is really an attack on academic freedom. It’s an attack on people who are pluralists and believe that you should bring people from all over the world together of diverse backgrounds and that you, you actually have more scholarly rigor and — and more value can be brought by having people from different backgrounds. This is an attack on diversity. This is an attack on multiculturalism, and on many of the values that a lot of us hold dear, and in fact, anybody really who is around my age, in their 30s, who went to any public — major public university or private university in this country, you know, these are values that are very important. And I think that’s why these presidents are under attack. That’s why Claudine Gay was under attack. The fact that she’s a black woman and the first person who is a black American to lead Harvard, only added to their thirst to dethrone her.”
Gay then argued the attacks were racist but that she didn’t “want to miss the attacks on academic freedom. And I think it’s much easier to target women or women of color, but ultimately, it’s not going to stop there. And I really hope that we can stand up for academic freedom, you know, no matter who the target is, of these campaigns.”
Others have taken to social media to condemn the resignation and blaming it on racism.
“Racist mobs won’t stop until they topple all Black people from positions of power and influence who are not reinforcing the structure of racism,” author Ibram X. Kendi tweeted. “What these racist mobs are doing should be obvious to any reporter who cares about truth or justice as opposed to conflicts and clicks.”
CUNY sociology professor Heba Gowayed tweeted that people “could not stand a Black woman in authority.”
“You cannot stand Arabs demanding justice. You posted all the black squares, issued all the solidarity statements. But the racism is barely hooded in 2024.”