By jStock @Adobe Stock
The Galling Farce of Being Graded by Gay
“This is not a decision I came to easily,” said Claudine Gay, now ex-president of Harvard University amid scandals involving antisemitism and plagiarism.
Many opined that Gay was “untouchable.” But as Christopher Rufo notes in the WSJ, the campaign to topple Harvard’s 30th president was about understanding and using power. As he puts it, it is about “much more than Claudine Gay.”
It is about the great conflict between truth and ideology, colorblindness and discrimination, good governance and failed leadership—a conflict that, if we are to preserve America’s core principles, conservatives must win.
If there is any hope of stopping America’s cultural revolution, it must begin with a clear-eyed understanding of how to wield power and reshape institutions in the real world. Fantasy is no substitute for victory.
How the “Squeeze” Happened
- Journalists—including the independent reporter Christopher Brunet and the Washington Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium—applied reputational pressure, exposing Ms. Gay’s alleged plagiarism and Harvard’s scandalous effort to cover it up.
- Donors, led by hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, applied financial pressure, withholding a billion dollars in contributions.
- Congress, under the leadership of Rep.Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), applied political pressure, exposing Ms. Gay’s equivocations on antisemitism and threatening consequences for inaction.
Gay’s leaving Harvard’s presidency, however, is not a real goodbye, explains Paul Du Quenoy in The Spectator.
It only came after Gay repeatedly failed to state, including in Congressional testimony, and in the wake of the deadliest anti-Semitic violence since the Holocaust, that calling for the genocidal murder of members of her university community is a violation of its code of conduct.
Gay Still a Faculty Member
Gay’s decision to leave Harvard’s presidency is not a real goodbye. While it is unlikely that she will ever again be entrusted with any amount of administrative responsibility, she will stay on as a faculty member, presumably in good standing despite the massive plagiarism allegations, and, according to reports, likely at a salary closer to what she was paid for her six months and two days as Harvard’s shortest-serving president than to a normal professor’s unenviable compensation.
The rapidly dwindling number of prospective parents still naïve enough to think a Harvard degree is prestigious should be aware that Gay could remain at Harvard for decades as a living martyr for the DEI faithful, all while receiving a fat paycheck subsidized by the tuition dollars of class after class of eager freshmen who could face the even more galling farce of being graded by her.
