A Harvard student reacts to resignation of Claudine Gay

• Harvard University's president, Claudine Gay, resigned Tuesday.
• Gay faced criticism over her responses at a hearing on antisemitism on campus as well as plagiarism allegations.

Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard University on Tuesday, ending her six-month tenure in the position. One current Harvard law student told Business Insider she was glad Gay resigned.

Gay's short stint as the university's first-ever Black president was marked by controversy in recent months following the October 7 attack in Israel.

Though critics, including billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, immediately began calling for Gay and the rest of the Harvard community to take swift action in response to a "growing number of antisemitic incidents on campus," calls for her resignation increased sharply after she was called to testify before Congress on December 5 about how the school was handling antisemitic harassment.

In response to a pointed line of questioning from Rep. Elise Stefanik, Gay said that calling for a "genocide of Jews" may be a violation of the school's code of conduct "depending on the context," prompting uproar from Harvard alumni and donors like Ackman, as well as student groups on campus. Gay later released a statement clarifying her remarks.

Following the hearing, plagiarism allegations resurfaced.

The New York Post had first reported on allegations of plagiarism against Gay by an anonymous source in late October. Harvard initially announced on December 12 that it had not found any instances of "research misconduct" in its investigation into claims Gay had plagiarised parts of four academic articles she'd written but did require the academic to modify incorrect citations in the text. Weeks later, after her congressional testimony, the school said it'd found two additional examples in which Gay had used "duplicative language without appropriate attribution."

While some in the Harvard community rallied around Gay in light of the accusations, one current Harvard law school student explained to Business Insider why she was happy to see Gay's departure. BI granted her anonymity to talk freely about topics that have roiled campus in recent months.

The student, who is Jewish, said while she was appalled by Gay's testimony before Congress, she didn't think she necessarily had to resign. The student pointed to what she saw as poor coaching of Gay ahead of her testimony. But the accusations of plagiarism proved too much.

"It just kept getting worse and worse and worse," the student said, referring to the claims about plagiarism. "It seemed like it was sort of devaluing our degree. You go to Harvard for a reason: because it has a brand name."

A brand name, she said, that Gay has tarnished.

"I don't think she should have been there to begin with," the student added, indicating that she was concerned about what critics have derided as Gay's light academic publishing record. "She's clearly not a good leader. She hasn't stepped up."

The student said Gay's appointment could be seen as a cynical attempt to elevate a woman of color to the job rather than employing the most qualified candidate.

"The message it gets across is, 'We don't take you so seriously so that, you know, we hold you to a lower standard than everyone else.' That shouldn't be the case at all. There are plenty of women of color who are professors that are more than qualified, that would be good leaders," the student said.

The student contrasted Gay's tenure to when President Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court after saying he would appoint a Black woman.

"That's fine. She's qualified," the student said. "She is at the level that you would expect a Supreme Court justice to be at. President Gay is not at the level that you would expect a Harvard president to be at."

And while she's glad Gay has vacated the position, the student didn't fault her for all of the tension on campus — though she did blame the former president for not doing more to reduce it.

"It's not completely on her, but she did not do a good job of fixing any situation."

In light of Gay's resignation, Harvard's provost, Alan Garber, has taken over the role and is serving as interim university president.

In the future, the student would like to see the seat filled by "someone who is a problem-solver, is a good leader, a good communicator, and has more maybe empathy. I just didn't see a lot of empathy coming from President Gay at all."