5 Facts On Claudine Gay, Harvard President Who Resigned Amid Anti-Semitism Row

Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned on January 2 amid allegations of plagiarism and criticism for her testimony at a congressional hearing. She faced scrutiny for not definitively stating whether calls for the genocide of Jews on campus would violate the school's conduct policy. Ms Gay, who stepped down just months into her tenure, communicated her departure through a letter to the Harvard community. 

Who is Claudine Gay?

Claudine Gay, 53, hails from New York and is the daughter of two Haitian immigrants. Her father, a civil engineer, worked for the US Army. Her mother was a nurse.

Ms Gay spent a part of her childhood in Saudi Arabia due to her father's job. She is also the first cousin of Roxane Gay, a well-known author and contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.

An American political scientist and academic administrator, Ms Gay currently holds the position of Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and African and African-American Studies. In her research, Ms Gay explores aspects of American political behaviour, including voter turnout and the politics of race and identity.

Ms Gay became the 30th president of Harvard University and the first Black person to hold this position. Prior to that, she served as the Edgerley Family Dean of Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Ms Gay attended Princeton but later transferred to Stanford University and earned her Bachelor's degree in Economics in 1992 with Honors and Distinction, receiving the Anna Laura Myers Prize for the best senior thesis in Economics. She later obtained her PhD from Harvard University's Department of Government in 1998, earning the department's Toppan Prize for the best dissertation in political science.

She was an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University from 2000 to 2005 and an associate professor from 2005 to 2006.