Embattled Harvard president Claudine Gay attends menorah lighting after widespread antisemitism backlash
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Embattled Harvard president Claudine Gay attended a campus menorah lighting Wednesday — a day after it emerged she was retaining her job at the Ivy League school despite widespread antisemitism backlash.
The under-fire president was among the roughly 100 people to gather at the daily lighting ceremony, organized by the Harvard Chabad, at the campus’ Harvard Park.
Gay, who attended alongside her colleague Professor Jeff Bussgang, was spotted lighting the first candle.
Despite a slew of anti-Israel protests being held on campus of late, the lighting went ahead calmly without any interruptions.
Gay’s appearance came after the Harvard Corporation — the university’s highest governing body — announced Tuesday that she would remain leader of the prestigious school in the wake of her disastrous congressional testimony about antisemitism last week.
Some Jewish students — who say they are still experiencing a sense of unease on campus over antisemitism — told The Post Wednesday that Gay should be booted from her post if she fails to take measures to protect them.
“If she’s willing to take action to actually protect us, that’s fine. If not, she needs to go,” one student, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisals, said.
Fellow classmates, meanwhile, ripped the Ivy League institution over what they argue is a “double standard of free speech” tied to the Israel war.
“If any other minority group says they don’t feel safe, the administration would take steps to make sure they have a safe space,” one student, only identified as Olivia, told The Post.
“Now Jewish students are saying they don’t feel safe. I don’t want to be coddled, but if you’re going to protect some minority groups but not other minority groups, that’s underlying antisemitism.”
Maya Bodnick, a sophomore majoring in government, said the campus “has been very tense” ever since the Israel-Hamas war erupted following the terror group’s Oct. 7 attack.
“Jewish students I know and non-Jewish students I know have felt unsafe or uncomfortable to speak their opinions,” Bodnick said.
“I really do my best to engage in conversations with people of different viewpoints, but it’s been challenging to have those discourses,” she continued.
“A lot of people are unwilling to engage in different perspectives than their own. I have a lot of friends with family in Israel, with emotional ties to the situation, and that just supercharges things.”
Just months into her leadership, Gay found herself in the middle of a firestorm last week after she and other Ivy League presidents failed to condemn calls for the genocide of Jews at their respective schools during a fiery congressional hearing.
It prompted some lawmakers and Harvard donors to quickly call for Gay to step down after her testimony sparked intense national backlash.
University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill, who appeared alongside Gay at the hearing, resigned four days after the disastrous testimony.
