What Happened With Harvard's President? The Memes Of Claudine Gay's Resignation Explained

The President of Harvard University, Claudine Gay, has officially resigned this week following a series of accusations about plagiarism and antisemitism that have placed her at the center of much media coverage and viral discourse over the last several weeks.

Online, there have been tons of memes made about the controversy, as well as many made about the media's coverage of the whole debacle.

So, what exactly happened with Claudine Gay and why has she become such a prominent topic online lately? Let's explain, starting from the beginning.

What Happened At The Congressional Hearing?

The origin of this controversy began when Claudine Gay appeared at a Congressional hearing alongside other notable university presidents in early December 2023 to address the issue of antisemitism on college campuses. Concern about antisemitism (as well as anti-Muslim incidents) increased following the 2023 Israel-Hamas War as the conflict spilled into digital and real-world spaces across the globe.

During this hearing, Representative Elise Stefanik asked Gay if "calls for genocide" against Jewish people violated Harvard's rules against bullying and harassment, to which she responded, "It can be, depending on the context."

This response sparked a backlash on social media, with many condemning Gay for not using stronger language against antisemitism. In a broader sense, critics and commentators were troubled by rhetoric on college campuses used in anti-Israel protests and by the political environment on American college campuses in general.

Did Claudine Gay Plagiarize?

On December 10th, 2023, self-described conservative activist Christopher Rufo posted plagiarism allegations against President Gay, alleging that in her scholarly work, she copied passages from other academic writers.

Earlier that fall, the Harvard Crimson reported that a professor from another institution had accused Gay of plagiarism and a review by an independent committee found Gay had improperly cited and paraphrased certain passages. The independent panel of three experts and a subcommittee of the Harvard Corporation ultimately determined that the offenses fell short of more serious wrongdoing, according to the summary.

The passages in question listed in a complaint by the anonymous professor accusing Gay were often paraphrased descriptions of technical methods used to conduct quantitative research or quotation errors.

One former teacher of Gay, whom she is accused of plagiarizing, told the Crimson that "the work was 'technically plagiarism,' but described it as 'minor-to-inconsequential.'"

Why Did Claudine Gay Resign?

Weeks later on January 2nd, 2024, Gay's resignation letter was then published in The New York Times. At the time, she had been President of Harvard for six months.

In her letter, she wrote it had been "frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus," and that she was resigning, after consultation with the Harvard Corporation, so "our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual."

Harvard President Claudine Gay said she would resign from her position amid controversies including her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus and allegations of plagiarism https://t.co/WOf3OFHPJk pic.twitter.com/MyGb7Gdmmm

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 3, 2024

The resignation came after weeks of coverage of the controversy in major publications around the world. Not long after its release, Christopher Rufo and others then took issue with the letter, accusing Gay of not adequately addressing her critics on social media.

Why Is The Media Involved In So Much Of The Post-Resignation Discussion?

A prominent amount of the response online to the story has revolved around the way the media covered it. A series of articles by the Associated Press, which were notably Community Noted on X, trended as some posters criticized the media for covering the story in ways they thought were unfair.

On that same platform, some also began to speculate that it was only under Elon Musk's new ownership that the plagiarism story would've been allowed to trend, to which Musk himself seemingly agreed.

Christopher Rufo, in a tweet and later in an interview with Politico, notably described his promotion of the plagiarism story as a political tactic to manipulate the media. After her resignation, he said (and posted) that he had purposefully "smuggled" the plagiarism story into the "center-left" media in an attempt to remove Gay from office.

How And Why Are People Making Memes About Claudine Gay's Resignation?

Many of the memes and online responses to Claudine Gay's resignation appear to fall into two prominent categories: memes about Claudine Gay and the accusations, and memes about the media's response to those accusations.

A significant amount of the memes about Gay seem to argue her resignation is a good thing, while many outright celebrate it.

On other corners of the internet, people are also taking the opportunity to say they don't really care what happens at Harvard. These memes argue that administrative politics at Ivy League schools do not affect most people and there are more consequential things going on in the world right now.

Many memes about the media response tend to criticize the mainstream media for its coverage of the controversy, objecting to the choices outlets have made in perceivably framing the facts and describing the plagiarism by Gay.

Online, some have also taken to supporting Gay on TikTok and other platforms, arguing that she is a victim of racism and a coordinated righ-twing campaign of the type that Christopher Rufo openly describes in his posts and interviews.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7319892630307900714

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For the full history of Claudine Gay's Harvard resignation, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.