In a first-of-its-kind meeting held last week, there was a think tank of major stakeholders of Harvard University. It was a dinner involving two of the university’s board members and prominent academic staff.
During the dinner, some faculty members called out the Board’s complicity in the controversies currently plaguing the institution. Harvard has been an epicenter of the antisemitism campaign sweeping through American universities.
Still, it does not end there. Harvard has earned the worst bad publicity this December. The presidents of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology gaffed on December 5. That day, the three presidents gave less than satisfactory responses about the advent of antisemitism on their campuses.
Not long after, Elizabeth Magill, president of UPenn, resigned. Likewise, there have been calls for Claudine Gay of Harvard University to step down. The straw that broke the back of Harvard’s camel was a private investigation that uncovered plagiarism in many of Gay’s academic publications.
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Unfortunately for those calling for Gay’s resignation, the Harvard Corporation has declared their unflinching support for the embattled president. The Harvard Corporation is the self-proclaimed name of the 12-member board that wields the wand at Harvard University. Gay is also on the Harvard Corporation.
Back to the dinner, the two Board members in attendance were Paul Finnegan and Tracy Palandijian. Finnegan is a serial investor and philanthropist, while Palandijian is the CEO of a financial consultancy firm.
Academics at the dinner called attention to the growing unrest among all donors of Harvard. So, the call was majorly for the Harvard Corporation to address the many controversies besieging the institution before it loses all its benefactors.
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After Gay’s watery response at the December 5 congressional hearing, about 240 donors and alumni of Harvard made a pact. In the future, all donors and alumni will only contribute $1 to the university. These are donors who have previously given millions of dollars.
Interestingly, some top academics at the dinner did not mince words about the board’s complicity. For example, Jeff Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School, said, “If people are saying the university is making mistakes — they are talking about you!” Flier said this while addressing Finnegan and Palandijian.
ALSO READ: Billionaire and Harvard Alum Bill Ackman Claims Harvard President Was a DEI Initiative Pick
Another academic present at the dinner was Steven Pinker. Pinker is a renowned psychologist at Harvard, with highly subscribed classes. In an interview with the New York Times, Pinker declared that Harvard academics are less concerned with a Gay resignation. Instead, they would appreciate it if the Board could step forward with initiatives that will make Harvard an unattractive destination for antisemitism.
Overall, the dinner was a golden opportunity for Harvard academics to voice their displeasure with the recent trajectory of the institution. While it is true that the Harvard Corporation is the powers that be and prime movers of the institution. Still, they agreed to an open discussion with university employees, seeking their opinion on the way forward.
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