Gay is actually a capable academic administrator - she led Harvard's Faculty of Arts & Sciences for years before taking over Mass Hall.
But she's not going to last after the testimony last week and the University's earlier response to the crisis. Regardless of the faculty and student support, it's clear some of the biggest donors (and likely a significant number of midsized and smaller donors) will never support her, and/or will be second-guessing every major statement, appointment, or policy move. In resignation statement language, she's become a "distraction" to the mission of the university.
There's precedence for Harvard presidents to leave suddenly, including Larry Summers nearly 20 years ago. Former president Derek Bok took over on an interim basis. Something similar will happen here, maybe Drew Gilpin Faust or another trusted former leader.
I'm surprised these senior executives were unable to bob and weave on camera under questioning from these knuckleheads.
Q: Does calling for the extermination of Jewish people constitute a violation of $university Code of Conduct?
A: Thank you for the question. I and the entire University community categorically condemn Anti-semitism in all forms.
Q: You didn't answer the question. What about the speech code?
A: I don't think I can be any clearer, congresswoman. We categorically condemn all forms of Anti-semitism, and Islamophobia too, for that matter. Hate has no place at $university.
GOTO 10
This is in media training 101 for executives, at least in the tech industry.
>In one example, taken from page 12 of Gay's dissertation, Rufo points out the now-Harvard president seemingly "lifts an entire paragraph" from a 1990 paper by Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam.
Appearing in Bobo and Gilliam's original paper, published seven years before Gay wrote her thesis, is the phrase "blacks in high-black-empowerment areas–as indicated by control of the mayor's office–are more active than either blacks living in low-empowerment areas or their white counterparts of comparable socioeconomic status."
Then in Gay's paper she writes "African-Americans in 'high black-empowerment' areas–as indicated by control of the mayor's office — are more active than either African-Americans in low empowerment areas or their white counterparts of comparable socioeconomic status."
But she's not going to last after the testimony last week and the University's earlier response to the crisis. Regardless of the faculty and student support, it's clear some of the biggest donors (and likely a significant number of midsized and smaller donors) will never support her, and/or will be second-guessing every major statement, appointment, or policy move. In resignation statement language, she's become a "distraction" to the mission of the university.
There's precedence for Harvard presidents to leave suddenly, including Larry Summers nearly 20 years ago. Former president Derek Bok took over on an interim basis. Something similar will happen here, maybe Drew Gilpin Faust or another trusted former leader.