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- Claudine Gay's six-month term as Harvard president ranks the shortest in the school's history.
- Gay assumed the role in July last year and was the university's first Black president.
- Harvard Corp. said it accepted her resignation "with sorrow" after weeks of public backlash.
Claudine Gay's resignation as Harvard president makes her six-month term the shortest in the school's history, according to historical data on Harvard's website.
Gay began her tenure as school president in July last year, becoming Harvard's first Black president and its second-ever female president. She announced her resignation Tuesday afternoon.
"When my brief presidency is remembered, I hope it will be seen as a moment of reawakening to the importance of striving to find our common humanity — and of not allowing rancor and vituperation to undermine the vital process of education," Gay said in a resignation letter published on Harvard's website.
While Alan Garber, the school's chief academic officer, is now serving as interim president, Gay isn't leaving Harvard entirely. She is returning to a teaching position at the university, members of Harvard Corp. said in a statement.
Gay's resignation comes after weeks of scrutiny directed toward her, first over her handling of antisemitism concerns on campus and her highly criticized Congressional testimony on the topic, and more recently as she faced plagiarism accusations tied to her past academic work, some of which the school later said would be corrected.
Liz Magill, who testified before Congress alongside Gay about antisemitism concerns while president of University of Pennsylvania, has since resigned from her post.