Harvard University President Claudine Gay's resignation over plagiarism is “just the beginning of a reckoning,” House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik told the Post on Tuesday, adding that Republicans are calling for “systemic corruption” in higher education. He vowed to carry out a “long overdue” clean-up.
“Harvard should have forced her to resign right after the Congressional hearing just a month ago, but they failed and it became clear that her presidency was unsustainable,” said the 2006 Harvard graduate. Stefanik said.
Stefanik (R-N.Y.), president of Harvard University, added: announced in a statement Her statement that she would step down from her leadership position but would remain on the Ivy League school's faculty suggests that during her short tenure, she has “failed to protect Jewish students or to undermine the academic integrity of the university.” Regardless of whether it was torn to shreds or not, it was a disgrace.'' She tried to cover up her nearly 50 plagiarisms. ”
“I'm a graduate of Harvard University, which used to be the most prestigious institution of higher learning in the world. That's long gone,” Stefanik continued.
Last month, Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee responded to recent on-campus incidents following damning testimony by then-University of Pennsylvania President Liz McGill, who is gay, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth. has launched an investigation into Harvard University and other elite universities over their handling of anti-Semitic incidents.
Stefanik said the effort “will continue to be successful.”
“Billions of taxpayer dollars are funneled into these institutions,” she says. “And not only are there Jewish students who are physically assaulted and harassed on campus, but there are many in the DEI office as well. [diversity, equity and inclusion] It is anti-Semitic by definition.
“And I believe this investigation will uncover the greatest scandal in the history of the university and the university.”
Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigns
Here's how we got here.
The anti-Semitism investigation and a separate probe into what Education and Labor Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) called “credible allegations of plagiarism” against Gay are a result of requests for internal documents and They have already begun threatening subpoenas if they do not comply.
Stefanik noted that “hundreds of Jewish students” contacted Harvard's DEI office about the “increase in anti-Semitic slurs” and “anti-Semitic acts on campus,” but received no response. .
“I am working with Chairman Virginia Foxx. We are extremely focused on document requests and will not hesitate to use subpoenas,” she said.
“They can't live by a different set of rules just because they happen to be trustees of Harvard University. of institutions.”
“This is just the beginning of the reckoning. This is long overdue,” she added.
Stefanik made headlines on Dec. 5 when she lambasted Gay, McGill, and Kornbluth during a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on incidents of anti-Semitic harassment on campus.
In an exchange that has since been viewed millions of times, Stefanik said that an anti-Israel student who had called for the genocide of Jews in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack said the University's Code of Conduct on Bullying and Harassment Each student was asked whether they had violated the rules.
Gay and others refused to give a yes or no answer to the question, stressing that the speech depends on the “context” and that actions are only justified if they rise to the level of bullying, harassment or intimidation.
Mr. McGill resigned on December 9, four days after his damning testimony, but Mr. Gay survived the initial backlash. However, her tenure as president of Harvard University endured her second scandal for dequoting other scholars without attribution to her academic work dating back to her doctoral dissertation. I couldn't.
“Like I said, after the president of Pennsylvania resigned, 'one loss, two to go.' Now it's 'two wins, one to go,'” Stefanik said. “They are now notoriously lacking in moral clarity, delivering some of the most morally bankrupt testimony in Congressional history.”
His “moral bankruptcy” rose to the top of Harvard, where the school's board of trustees chose to keep Gay — former President Barack Obama, a 1991 Harvard Law School graduate, reportedly He said he was under pressure to do so from celebrities such as .
“They not only allowed it to fester, they covered it up. And it's their fiduciary responsibility to serve on the governance committees of these institutions,” Stefanik said. Ta.
“And in the case of Harvard, we now know that Harvard was aware of credible accusations of plagiarism and instead of addressing it, threatened to sue the news organization,” she said in a statement published by the Post. he said, referring to threats he received from a lawyer hired by him. She turned to the university for comment after Gaye was asked to comment on allegations that he had stolen the work of other academics.
“Also concerning is that Harvard University's presidential search was the shortest in history when it selected Claudine Gay. And it was led by former Obama Cabinet official Penny Pritzker. “Stefanik continued. “We also know that Mr. Obama himself called for pressure on Harvard to retain Claudine Gay.
“The radical left on these committees have made this political and what they have done is completely destroy their academic integrity and completely destroy their moral leadership and global brand name. It means it was destroyed.”
