It’s hard to describe what a disaster the Claudine Gay situation is becoming for Harvard. There are competing interests, as I wrote about in It’s important to Harvard that its brand survive Claudine Gay. It’s important to America that it doesn’t.
But it’s beyond that. Assuming the goal is to salvage Harvard’s brand, there is no easy path. Bill Ackman, who has called a lot of things right about what was happening at Harvard, tweeted last night unconfirmed reports that the Harvard Corporation has asked her to resign and she is refusing and threatening to sue:
I have heard from a source that is reliable but a step or two removed from the situation that the @Harvard Corporation has asked President Gay to resign and she has refused.Gay has apparently said that if she is fired, she will sue. Gay has retained her own counsel.I can’t 100% confirm the above is true, but if it is, I am sure the Board is concerned about what may emerge in legal discovery in the event of litigation.At this point, however, what choice does the Board have?If the Board makes an inappropriate deal on severance or gives Gay a guaranteed position at Harvard, it will look like a payoff to keep her quiet. I can’t see how she stays at Harvard in any capacity.President Gay’s performance and her academic record issues provide plenty of cause for termination without compensation.But at every step so far, the Board has made the wrong call and dug a deeper hole for themselves and Harvard.As we all know, the best time to start making good decisions is now.The sooner Gay is gone, the sooner repairing the damage can begin.
There is no confirmation as of now, and it may be more wishful thinkning than an actual resignation request.
On the flip side, there is pressure from her supporters for the corporate Board to resign. The Wall Street Journal reports:
In the wake of calls for the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay, a growing number of faculty members are turning their focus to the other 11 members of the powerful governing board that runs the school.Some faculty are calling for members of the Harvard Corporation, the university’s board, to resign or apologize and one professor has even floated to the governor of Massachusetts a new governance structure for the school that would give lawmakers the chance to appoint a board member to represent the public interest.Kit Parker, professor of bioengineering and applied physics, said the school is at an inflection point and to change the trajectory members of the corporation need to step down. “The big question now is, how arrogant is Harvard? And when I say Harvard, I mean the Harvard Corporation. Do they think this is going to go away?”One faculty member, citing a carve-out in the Massachusetts Constitution that reserves authority over Harvard to the state legislature, has urged Massachusetts lawmakers to install a government official on the board to provide more transparency and public accountability. A spokeswoman for Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said the governor is aware of the proposal and looks forward to reviewing it.Harvard Spokesman Jonathan Swain said in response to a request for comment about faculty criticism of the corporation: “I’ll refer you to the Corporation’s Dec. 12 statement of unanimous support for President Gay.”
So will Claudine Gay stay, or will she go? Remember that’s the question, not what you want to happen, but what you think will happen.
Since this situation could change quickly, I’ll close the poll if a result happens, otherwise it’s open until midnight (Pacific) on Wednesday night, December 27.
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