CUNY professor says next Harvard president ‘MUST be a Black woman’ after Claudine Gay quit in disgrace over plagiarism and anti-Semitism scandals

An activist New York professor has called on Harvard University to replace disgraced former President Claudine Gay with another black woman.

Gay, 53, was the first black person to lead Harvard, and her July 1 swearing-in was seen by some as a sign of progress, despite opposition from some.

But she was forced to resign after just six months on Tuesday amid a plagiarism scandal and questions about her response to the October 7 Hamas terror attacks.

Marc Lamont Hill, an author and activist who works as a professor of anthropology at the City University of New York, said Gay should be replaced by a black woman.

“The next president of Harvard University MUST be a black woman,” he tweeted to his 565,000 followers.

Gay is pictured testifying before Congress on December 5. She doubted whether the call for genocide of the Jews was hate speech

Conservative comedians the Hodge Twins responded, “Or just hire someone qualified to be president and stop worrying about their skin color or gender? I know that's a crazy thought.' Their message was liked by 17,000 people.

Hill said The Boston Sphere The best way to counter the feeling that black women were being punished in academia was to hire someone from a similar background.

“To indicate that they do not have diminished trust in black women, or in black academics in general, hiring another black woman would be absolutely the best move they could make.

“My concern is how quickly a political disagreement turns into a public narrative about the unworthiness of a black woman who has been hired.

'It is not known that plagiarism is a black thing, it is not known that it is a woman's thing, but when it comes to [Gay’s] plagiarism is like, “See, we told you so.” '

Supporters of Gay, such as civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton and academic and author Ibram X. Kendi, have tried to claim she was forced out by racists.

Gay herself claimed that she felt like a victim because of the color of her skin.

Gay, seen in May 2023, shortly before taking on the role as Harvard's first black president

Trucks calling for Gay to be fired appeared outside Harvard's campus in December

“It has become clear that it is in Harvard's best interests to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution and not on any individual,” Gay wrote.

“It was disturbing to have doubts cast on my commitments to confront hate and uphold scientific rigor – two fundamental values ​​fundamental to who I am – and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats, fueled by racial animosity.”

The leaders of America's colleges and universities remain predominantly white, despite efforts in recent years to hire a more diverse group of people.

Nearly three out of four college presidents were white in 2022.

A 2022 survey of more than 1,000 college presidents by the American Council on Education, a higher education trade group, found that 13 percent were Black. This figure is an increase from 2016, when only 8 percent were black.

According to figures, African Americans make up 13.6 percent of the US population the last census.

And among full-time students, the discrepancy was even greater: 73 percent were white and just 6 percent were Black, according to 2021 data from the U.S. Department of Education cited by The Boston Sphere.

Gay, pictured on December 15, resigned on January 2 after six months in office

David Thomas, president of Morehouse College, a historically black men's college in Atlanta, told the newspaper that he felt her response to student justifications of the Hamas attacks, plus accusations of plagiarism, made her presidency untenable.

“You can argue how serious her violations were, but once you have that cloud around you, it becomes difficult to lead an organization whose raison d'être is to investigate what is true,” said Thomas, who taught Harvard for over 20 years.

He said her firing is “disappointing to me — it's disappointing to the greater black community.” He added, “It's a tragedy for Harvard.”