Accusations of anti-Semitism: Harvard president resigns Taiwan ahead of election: Ruling Democratic Progressive Party leads in polls

After only about six months in office, the president of America’s elite Harvard University, Claudine Gay, is stepping down. The decision follows accusations of plagiarism and sharp criticism at a U.S. Congressional hearing in which Gay and two other university presidents defended themselves against accusations that they had not done enough to combat anti-Semitism on campus. As a result, the president of the University of Pennsylvania had already resigned from her position.

“It is with a heavy heart, but out of deep love for Harvard, that I announce that I am resigning as president,” American media quoted Gay as saying in a letter to the university community on Tuesday. The decision wasn’t easy for her, but it was in the “best interests of Harvard.” As the university newspaper ‘Harvard Crimson’ reported, an interim representative has already been appointed.

Since the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the dispute over the Middle East conflict has also erupted at universities and schools in the US. In early December, the Republican-led Education Committee in the US Congress convened the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

During the hearing, all three admitted to anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents at their universities. One scene in particular sparked outrage: When asked whether the “call for genocide against the Jews” at its universities violated guidelines on bullying and harassment, Gay did not answer “yes” or “no,” but said: “That could be the case depending on the context.” (sda/dpa)