What the most narcissistic resignation letter of all REALLY reveals: MAUREEN CALLAHAN mercilessly skewers Claudine Gay’s self-pitying farewell to Harvard… where hilariously, she’s the REAL victim cruelly dethroned by bigots

Claudine Gay may have resigned, but that doesn't mean she regrets it.

The resignation letter she released Tuesday afternoon is a doozy. Truly, it is one for the books, long-winded, full of self-pity and completely shameless, signed by Gay himself – without irony – as the sole author!

Really: are we supposed to believe she wrote this herself?

But then again, this Sayonara is so unoriginal, so predictable in its grievances, that it's entirely possible.

Let's start with the subject line: 'Personal News'.

Is the? Is it really “personal news” when you make national news for months and drag the best university in the world with you, first because you failed to condemn anti-Semitism before Congress, then because of substantiated accusations of plagiarism, and then because of a cover-up? orchestrated on your behalf by Harvard Corporation, and then for six more instances of plagiarism on the morning of your dismissal?

Most agree that this story is bigger than Claudine Gay.

Except for Claudine Gay.

“When I became president,” she writes, “I found myself deeply blessed by the opportunity to serve people from around the world who saw in my presidency a vision of Harvard that affirmed their sense of belonging.”

Harvard Law graduated decades ago as the first black American president. It's fair to assume that top people around the world don't apply to Harvard to feel “seen” and “validated.”

If this resignation letter proves anything, it's that Claudine Gay is an unoriginal thinker, a terrible writer, and an extremely unserious person. She was never up for this job because, in her eyes, her race and gender were reason enough to deserve it.

“Frightening,” she writes, that in recent months she has been “subject to personal attacks and threats, fueled by racist hostility.”

As if Gay wasn't protected by Harvard Corp for so long precisely because of her race. As if other black scholars, including Carol M. Swain and John McWhorter, hadn't said Gay should go.

To turn around and suggest that racism is the animating force behind her dismissal is beyond cynical. It is narcissistic, selfish and harmful.

Not an ounce of responsibility is included in this letter. Not an ounce of remorse or sorrow for what she did to the institution, for the board members who defended her, or for the $1 billion in endowments she lost during her short, shameful tenure.

Not a single reference to the cases of plagiarism, nor a sincere mea culpa to the scholars whose work she stole.

No apology whatsoever to Harvard's Jewish students and faculty, who should never have resigned themselves to a president who told Congress that campus calls for genocide of Jews depended on “context.”

Oh no, there's only one victim here, and it's going to be America's most insufferable sticky-fingered scientist.

“This is not a decision I have made easily,” Gay wrote.

Of course it wasn't! Because it wasn't a decision she arrived at.

Does anyone really believe that Gay decided to leave a $1.3 million gig – for which she was completely unqualified – on her own? That Harvard Corp was not pressured by billionaire donors withdrawing their money and calling for the board to leave too? Or that the editors of the Harvard Crimson calling for Gay's resignation just days ago had no effect?

Spare us. Gay held on until she was pushed.

“Indeed,” she writes here, and “resigning has been extremely difficult.”

That's a telling statement for a plagiarist. Anyone whose job description is based on writing, on authorship, would never say they couldn't find the words to express themselves.

That's what writing is. But the delusion is strong in Claudine Gay.

“Amid all this,” she writes, “it was troubling that my promises to fight hate were being questioned” – is she real? – “and for upholding scientific rigor – two fundamental values ​​that are fundamental to who I am.” . .

Did no one proofread this letter? Is there no one in this woman's life who can make an honest settlement with her?

Claudine Gay is like the Norma Desmond of academia, convinced she is a genius and a guardian of the oppressed who has nevertheless become a victim.

Gay sees himself as too good and pure to survive, too much of a beacon of hope, intellectualism, equality and, yes, honesty.

If this were a parody, I'd say we all underestimated Claudine Gay as a writer.

Unfortunately, she has no sense of humor.

“The past few weeks,” she writes, “have helped clarify the work we need to do. . . to affirm our continued commitment to open inquiry and free expression in the pursuit of the truth.”

Ah yes, I can see it now: 'The Pursuit of Truth: The Claudine Gay Story'. The film adaptation writes itself!

God, she droned on. This letter is so short-sighted, so laden with the chatter specific to DEI and self-help advocates, that it's easy to lose sight of its sins: Gay failed to defend Jews on campus, stole from other scholars, and long refused ago – hell, past a holiday week when no one was paying attention – to do the only honorable thing and resign.

“I believe we have within us everything we need to heal from this period of tension and division” – “this period” caused, of course, only by her cowardice and avoidance, a completely avoidable disaster of her own making – “and to come out stronger'.

Harvard students and faculty: Don't worry: you haven't seen the last of Claudine Gay! She may be stepping down as president, but this lesser light has decided to stay on and teach.

It seems Harvard has learned nothing.

“I promise,” she wrote, “that I will continue to work with you to build the community we all deserve.”

I wonder what Harvard students think about that.