Two Harvard board members and four faculty held private dinner where they discussed ‘self-censorship’ – and deny reports they addressed president Claudine Gay’s future at the Ivy League school

Two Harvard administrators and four faculty members held a private dinner where they reportedly discussed a culture of “self-censorship” on campus, amid growing outrage over the school's response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

However, the four professors present Tuesday said they would not address the elephant in the room at the Ivy League institution — Claudine Gay's uncertain future as president — despite reports saying otherwise.

Harvard Law School Professor Jeannie Suk Gersen, Psychology Professor Steven A. Pinker, lecturer Flynn J. Cratty and former Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey S. Flier were present, along with board members Tracy Palandjian and Paul J Finnegan.

The dinner at Bar Enza in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was first reported by the New York Times— and it sparked rumors that Palandjian and Finnegan might break ranks with the Harvard Corporation's decision to support the beleaguered president.

Gay, who came to power in July this year, sparked outrage at a congressional hearing after she said whether calls for genocide against Jews at Harvard constituted harassment and violated the rules depended on context.

According to the Times, Palandjian said that “replacing the university president may not go far enough to get Harvard back on track” — but each of the professors at the dinner said the Harvard Crimson the subject wasn't even discussed.

Pinker told the Crimson that he had “no memory of Palandjian saying she supported Gay's resignation.” “That would have been a bombshell that I couldn't possibly have forgotten,” he said.

Cratty described the dinner as one “A very candid and friendly conversation about the ways Harvard can grow in its commitment to civil discourse and diversity of thought. “We have not discussed or requested the removal of President Gay,” he added.

According to the Times, Palandjian also said Harvard needed “generational change” — but Gersen wrote in a statement to The Crimson that she “did not specifically remember Tracy Palandjian using the language of 'generational change' at Harvard.”

“But if she did, it was not about the possible replacement of the president or members of the Corporation, because that was not the conversation we were having,” Gersen said.

Harvard spokesman Jonathan L Swain said the dinner was “a constructive and positive conversation about the importance of academic freedom, civil discourse and intellectual diversity.”

'The discussion about 'generational change' took place in that context; that addressing such a vital and complex social problem would not happen overnight, but would take time,” Swain said. “It wasn't related to anyone at Harvard.”

Meanwhile, Flier previously told the Times and the Wall Street Journal that he urged Palandjian and Finnegan to do more to address the anti-Semitist anger that threatened to envelop the Ivy League school.

“You have to be more outspoken here,” Flier recalled telling executives as he spoke to management New York Times. 'When people say the university makes mistakes, they are talking about you!'

Finnegan and Palandjian did not immediately respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com.

Danielle Rhoades Ha, spokesperson for the New York Times, wrote in a statement that the publication “is confident in the accuracy of our reporting and stands behind the story.”

Gay, who became president of Harvard on July 1, has faced intense criticism and condemnation since the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel for her failure to immediately condemn students who justified Hamas's actions.

She then issued two apologies in which she issued a louder condemnation of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group behind the atrocities.

Fuel was added to the fire on December 5, when she testified before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus, and questioned whether calling for the genocide of Jews was hate speech.

The Harvard Corporation admitted that it should have condemned Hamas's attack in Israel sooner, but gave its full support for continuing in its role.

“Our extensive deliberations reaffirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and address the very serious societal issues we face,” the board said in a statement.

It added: “So many people have suffered enormous harm and pain as a result of Hamas' brutal terrorist attack, and the university's initial statement should have been an immediate, direct and unequivocal condemnation.

Gay has found her academic record under investigation, and on December 10, conservative activist Christopher Rufo published allegations in his newsletter that she had plagiarized parts of her work.

Last week it emerged that Harvard had been asked by The New York Post on October 24 on allegations of plagiarism, of which Harvard initially acquitted her without proper investigation.

Clare responded to the newspaper on behalf of the university on October 27, saying the plagiarism claims were “demonstrably false.”

He told The New York Post that they would sue for “enormous” damages.

The paper told Harvard that they had found plagiarism in three different works: they pointed out 27 possible examples of plagiarism in two peer-reviewed journals and an academic journal.

The work appeared as early as 1993, when Gay graduated, and not until 2017, when she was dean of the faculty of social sciences.

Clare wrote: 'The extracts provided do not support a finding of plagiarism – and the conclusion she puts forward rests on a fatally flawed understanding of what 'plagiarism' is and is not in scholarly work conducted in academic journals and institutions.'

Clare made no mention of an investigation initiated by Harvard, and its existence was not made public until December 12, when the university said it had received permission and would make two changes to her published work.

The university said the investigation started on November 2 – meaning Clare insisted she was innocent before an investigation had even started.

Clare also quoted in her letter the response of two of the people she was accused of plagiarizing, saying they had shrugged off the accusations.

D. Stephen Voss, who now teaches at the University of Kentucky, told The Crimson that while Gay “technically committed plagiarism,” it is “from minor to insignificant.”

He said, “This doesn't look sneaky at all. It seems like maybe she just had no idea what we normally tell students to do and not to do.”

Harvard professor Lawrence Lobo, also among those allegedly plagiarized by Gay, similarly told the Boston Globe, “I find myself unconcerned by these claims since our work is explicitly acknowledged.”

But in recent weeks, a third person whose work Gay is accused of copying — Dr. Carol Swain — said she is outraged by the revelation.

The Harvard Corporation, formally the President and Fellows of Harvard College, has twelve members, including Gay, former Amherst College President Biddy Martin and former American Express CEO Kenneth I. Chenault.

Gay, the school's first Black president, was appointed to the post in July 2023.