(HorizonPost.com) – North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, the chair of the House Education Committee, said last Wednesday that Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation would not stop the committee from continuing its probe into campus antisemitism, Politico reported.
Gay announced on January 2 that she was stepping down as president of Harvard after only six months in the role, following multiple allegations of plagiarism in her academic writings and the controversy that erupted after her December 5 testimony at a House Education Committee hearing on antisemitism on campus.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill the following day, Chairwoman Foxx said Gay’s resignation was “the right thing to do,” but insisted that it did not put an end to the committee’s investigation. Foxx said the committee would be looking into “many schools” and how they have handled not only antisemitism on campus but also their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.
In her resignation letter, Gay said it was “in the best interests of Harvard” for her to step down as president. However, Gay will not be leaving the university entirely but will remain on the faculty.
Gay claimed in her letter that she was “subjected to personal attacks and threats” that had been “fueled by racial animus.”
Claudine Gay was the second university president to resign following the December 5 hearing. Just days after the hearing, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill stepped down after she faced intense criticism from donors, alumni, and lawmakers over her testimony.
During the 5-hour hearing, which also featured testimony from MIT President Sally Kornbluth, New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik asked each of the presidents if calls for the genocide of the Jewish people violated the code of conduct at their schools. Magill told Stefanik that it would depend on the context, explaining that it was only when speech turned into conduct that it would be considered harassment.
Claudine Gay offered a similar response, saying it would only violate Harvard’s policies when “speech crosses into conduct.”
Following the hearing, Chairwoman Foxx opened a probe into the “learning environments” at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT.
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