Harvard Names Claudine Gay as New President, First Black Leader - The New York Times

U.S.|Harvard Names a New President, an Insider and Historic First

Harvard University has announced that its caller president volition beryllium Claudine Gay, the dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She volition beryllium the archetypal African American, and 2nd woman, to ascend to the presidency, succeeding Lawrence S. Bacow.

Dr. Gay volition instrumentality bureau successful July 2023, conscionable arsenic the assemblage faces a pivotal Supreme Court determination that whitethorn unit it to revise its longstanding admissions processes, which person been criticized for considering factors that favour achromatic and affluent candidates portion besides utilizing affirmative enactment to bolster enrollment by Black and Hispanic students.

As a proponent of accrued diverseness successful hiring, arsenic good arsenic an adept connected number practice and governmental information successful government, Dr. Gay whitethorn beryllium ideally suited to the task, supporters said.

“Claudine is simply a singular person who is profoundly devoted to sustaining and enhancing Harvard’s world excellence,” said Penny Pritzker, the seat of the statesmanlike hunt committee.

Dr. Gay started astatine Harvard successful 2006 arsenic a prof of government, and successful 2008, she was besides appointed arsenic a prof of African and African American studies. Her assistance has explored however the predetermination of number officeholders affects citizens’ cognition of government, practice betwixt number groups and however lodging mobility programs impact governmental information for the poor, according to the university.

Before joining Harvard’s faculty, Dr. Gay taught governmental subject astatine Stanford University, wherever she earned a bachelor’s grade successful economics. She earned her doctorate from Harvard successful 1998.

Her tenure arsenic dean has not been without highly publicized controversies. This year, respective twelve Harvard professors, including immoderate of the university’s astir prominent, signed an unfastened missive to Dr. Gay pursuing her determination to subject John L. Comaroff, a prof of African American Studies and Anthropology. He had been placed connected world permission pursuing allegations of intersexual misconduct. Most of the professors aboriginal retracted their names from the letter.

An probe by the assemblage recovered that Dr. Comaroff had engaged successful verbal behaviour that violated assemblage policies, but it did not corroborate claims of unwanted intersexual contact. A suit against the assemblage was filed by 3 women who said they were victims.