She said to herself ” Sorry “. Harvard University President Claudine Gay, under fire for her responses during a tense hearing Tuesday in the US Congress regarding anti-Semitism on campus, said her words had “amplified the distress and pain”.
“I don’t know how anyone can feel anything other than regret.”she told the website of the university’s student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, on Thursday. in an article posted online Friday December 8.
The president of the university was widely criticized for her responses to questions from elected Republican Elise Stefanik, who compared the calls of certain students to“Intifada” to an exhortation to “a genocide against Jews in Israel and around the world”.
When the elected official asked her if “call for genocide of Jews rape[ait] Harassment Policy at Harvard »Claudine Gay replied: “It can, depending on the context”before adding: “If it’s directed at a person. »
She clarified: “When anti-Semitic rhetoric turns into behavior amounting to intimidation and harassment (…), we are taking action. » “It does not depend on the context, the answer is yes and that is why you should resign”the Republican elected official told him at the end of the exchange.
Opening an investigation
As early as Wednesday, the president of Harvard affirmed that the university did not support “calls for violence” and “those who led[çai]ent [ses] Jewish students should[aie]not be accountable ».
But that did not end the controversy. The US Congress opened an investigation Thursday into what it called“endemic anti-Semitism” on campuses, and a member of a Harvard advisory board on anti-Semitism, Rabbi David Wolpe, announced his resignation.
Since the bloody attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7, followed by deadly reprisals by Israel, the conflict has unleashed passions in renowned universities in the United States, such as Harvard (near Boston), UPenn (Philadelphia) or Columbia (New York). York).
In particular, wealthy donors have put pressure on the leaders of these establishments to clearly condemn Hamas attacks and support Israel. In Columbia, two groups of pro-Palestinian students were also banned from activity.