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Saturday, November 14, 2026Nov 14

Opinion: Harvard — From the frying pan into the fire

Photo/Adam Glanzman/The New York Times / Harvard University President Claudine Gay attends a candle-lighting ceremony for the seventh night of Hanukkah in Harvard Yard on Harvard University's campus in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 13, 2023.
Photo/Adam Glanzman/The New York Times / Harvard University President Claudine Gay attends a candle-lighting ceremony for the seventh night of Hanukkah in Harvard Yard on Harvard University's campus in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 13, 2023.

Harvard may assume the forced resignation of its president, Claudine Gay, has finally ended its monthlong scandal over her tenure.

Gay stepped down, remember, amid serious allegations of serial plagiarism — without refuting the charges. She proved either unable or unwilling to discipline those on her campus who were defiantly antisemitic in speech and action.

But Gay’s removal is not the end of Harvard’s dilemma. Rather, it is the beginning.

In the respective news releases from both Gay and the Harvard Corporation, racial animus was cited as a reason for her removal.

Gay did not even refer to her failure to stop antisemitism on her campus or her own record of blatant plagiarism.