A former Harvard president who stepped down after facing an avalanche of plagiarism allegations will teach a class on higher education at the prestigious school this fall.
Claudine Gay will teach multiple classes this year, including one called “What is a University?: Purpose and Politics in Higher Education” to examine the internal politics of academia. Gay’s teaching at Harvard comes more than two years after she resigned as president after being accused of plagiarism and mishandling anti-Israel protests.
Gay’s class will “encourage Harvard students to engage in critical thinking about their own institution and to understand the background political, social, and market pressures that influence their college experience,” according to a copy of the syllabus obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
It will also examine the “complexity and the inevitable conflict and contestation that result” from competing interests at universities. To complete the course, students will be asked to “propose a vision for institutional reform or reinvention.”
The class will involve readings related to controversies at Harvard, including the institution’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the history of slavery.
Gay was president of Harvard for only about six months, leaving the position in January 2024. Her sudden departure followed complaints identifying nearly 50 instances of plagiarism across eight of her 17 published works. The departure came at the same time she faced increasing pressure over her handling of anti-Israel protests on campus. In one viral exchange, Gay hedged her answer on whether calling for genocide would be considered harassment.
Gay blamed “racial animus” for the controversy surrounding her leadership in her resignation letter.
“Amidst all of this, it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus,” she said at the time.
Despite her ignominious departure as president, Gay stayed on with the university in a research and teaching role. Harvard currently lists Gay as a professor of government and African and African-American Studies. Most of her academic work has focused on racial topics.
The Daily Wire reached out to Harvard for comment.
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