What led to Harvard president Claudine Gay's resignation?
GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME TO UNTANGLE. >> ELIZABETH PALMER IN TOKYO, THANK YOU SO MUCH, LIZ. >>> HARVARD UNIVERSITY úPRESIDE RESIGNED POINT GAY WAS ONE OF THE IVY LEAGUE PRESIDENTS WHOSE MUTED RESPONSE ABOUT úCAL CONGRESSIONAL HEARING LED TO COMMANDS FOR HER OUSTING. BUT AFTER WEATHERING THAT EPISODE, ACCUSATIONS OF PLAGIARISM WERE TOO MUCH. CBS NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT NIKOLE KILLION HAS MORE. >> Reporter: SIX MONTHS INTO HER TENURE, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY ANNOUNCED SHE IS RESIGNING, SO THAT OUR COMMUNITY CANNOT GET THIS MOMENT OF EXTRAORDINARY CHALLENGE POINT GAY’S RESIGNATION COMES NEARLY A MONTH AFTER SHE AND
THE PRESIDENT OF U PENN AND M.I.T. FACED WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION FOLLOWING THIS TESTIMONY AT A HOUSE EDUCATION HEARING ON ANTI- SEMITISM ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: >> DOES CALLING FOR THE GENOCIDE VIOLATE HARVARD’S ROWS OF BULLY AND HARASSMENT, YES OR NO? >> IT CAN BE, DEPENDING ON THE CONTEXT, THE ANSWER IS YES, AND THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD RESIGN. >> AND HARVARD ALUM POSTED: TWO DOWN, REFERRING TO GAY AND PENN PRESIDENT LIZ MIKELL, WHO ALSO RESIGNED DAYS AFTER THE HEARING. WHILE HARVARD’S GOVERNING BOARD INITIALLY BACKED GAY, SHE FACED INCREASING SCRUTINY FOLLOWING CHARGES OF PLAGIARISM IN HER DISSERTATION IN
SEVERAL ARTICLES, INCLUDING REPORTS OF A NEW COMPLAINT FILED THIS WEEK. GAY, WAS HARVARD’S FIRST BLACK FEMALE PRESIDENT, DENIED THE ALLEGATIONS OF PLAGIARISM AND STATED: IT HAS BEEN DISTRESSING TO HAVE
AND NIKOLE KILLION JOINS ME NOW. NIKOLE, HOW IS HARVARD’S GOVERNING BODY REACTING TO THIS RESIGNATION? >> Reporter: IT’S HARVARD CORPORATION IS ONE THAT ISSUED THE STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO GAY’S RESIGNATION, AND THANKED GAY FOR HER SERVICE. THE BOARD ALSO ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL CONDUCT A SEARCH FOR A NEW UNIVERSITY LEADER IN DUE COURSE, BUT HAS NAMED AN INTERIM PRESIDENT FOR NOW. BUT THIS CERTAINLY HAS BEEN A SITUATION THAT HAS PUT HARVARD IN THE SPOTLIGHT, AND I THINK MANY NOW ON CAMPUS ARE HOPING THAT THEY CAN START TO PUT THIS BEHIND THEM. >> AS YOUR REPORT
MENTIONED, ALIAS STEFANO IS TAKING CREDIT FOR THESE TWO PRESIDENTS THAT ARE NO LONGER EMPLOYED IN THOSE POSITIONS. WHAT ABOUT THE PRESIDENT OF M.I.T.? OR WAS THIS A SITUATION IN WHICH GAY HAD THE PLAGIARISM THAT CAUSED THE MOST IMMEDIATE PROXIMATE CAUSE FOR HER LEAVING? >> Reporter: KEEP IN MIND THAT EACH SITUATION IS UNIQUE, AS WE POINTED OUT IN THE PIECE. WE DID SEE THE RESIGNATION OF LIZ MIKELL, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE DAYS AFTER THAT CONGRESSIONAL HEARING. IN HER CASE THE MOTHER HAD ALSO BEEN SOME CONCERNS ABOUT HOW SHE HANDLED ANTI-SEMITISM ON
CAMPUS, SO IT WENT BEYOND JUST HER ACTUAL TESTIMONY, AND SIMILARLY WITH CLAUDINE GAY, YES, THERE WERE MANY WHO WERE CONCERNED ABOUT HER TESTIMONY, EXPRESSED OUTRAGE ABOUT IT, ALTHOUGH SHE DID APOLOGIZE FOR IT, AT THE SAME TIME, YOU HAVE THE ISSUES OF PLAGIARISM. SHE ALSO CAME UNDER FIRE FOR HOW SHE HANDLED THE UNIVERSITY’S INITIAL RESPONSE TO THE WAR BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS. NOW, IN TERMS OF M.I.T.’S PRESIDENT, AS OF NOW, THE SCHOOL HAS POINTED US BACK TO SOME OF ITS PREVIOUS STATEMENTS. OF COURSE, THE SCHOOL’S BOARD HAS EXPRESSED UNEQUIVOCAL SUPPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, BUT
