'Two down': Republican lawmakers gloat over Harvard president's resignation

Following the resignation of Harvard University president Claudine Gay, Republican lawmakers gloated over her downfall.

"TWO DOWN," House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) posted to X. "@Harvard knows that this long overdue forced resignation of the antisemitic plagiarist president is just the beginning of what will be the greatest scandal of any college or university in history."

According to Politico, some other Republican lawmakers are following Stefanik's lead, with Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) saying, “This is the right move. Our university leaders have gone full-on woke and harbor anti-Semitism on campuses. Many should step down.” And Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) called Gay "a disgrace to her profession."

Gay was one of a number of university leaders who was called to Congress to discuss the issue of antisemitism on campus, and triggered outrage after they failed to deliver a clear answer to Stefanik's question on whether the schools would tackle calls for Jewish genocide leveled at their faculty and staff.

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One of the other presidents in that hearing, Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned shortly after.

Gay was initially given a strong showing of support by the Harvard board. However, right-wing activists like Christopher Rufo went digging into her past and discovered she may have plagiarized portions of her PhD dissertation, including missing quotes and citations. Harvard investigated these complaints and found that they were "regrettable" but didn't rise to the standard for punishable misconduct. However, on Thursday, facing ongoing criticism, she announced she would be stepping down.

“When my brief presidency is remembered, I hope it will be seen as a moment of reawakening to the importance of striving to find our common humanity — and of not allowing rancor and vituperation to undermine the vital process of education,” Gay wrote in her resignation announcement. She added, “it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”