Rep. Stefanik Cheers Gay's Resignation: 'Long Overdue'

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, whose questioning of three Ivy League university presidents during a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing last month put them in the hot seat about antisemitism in their schools, Tuesday celebrated the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay. 

"I will always deliver results," the New York Republican said in a statement to Newsmax. "The resignation of Harvard’s antisemitic plagiarist president is long overdue. … Her answers were absolutely pathetic and devoid of the moral leadership and academic integrity required of the President of Harvard. This is just the beginning of what will be the greatest scandal of any college or university in history."

Gay, under intense questioning from Stefanik during the hearing, refused to answer directly whether calls for the genocide of Jews were a violation of Harvard's code of conduct. 

MIT President Sally Kornbluth and University of Pennsylvania President Liz McGill also would not answer the question directly. Kornbluth is still at MIT, while McGill also resigned over the controversy. 

Stefanik Tuesday said that Gay's "morally bankrupt answers to my questions made history as the most viewed Congressional testimony in the history of the U.S. Congress."

She added that "our robust congressional investigation will continue to move forward to expose the rot in our most 'prestigious' higher education institutions and deliver accountability to the American people."

Since the hearing, there have also been at least eight allegations that the president engaged in plagiarism. 

Stefanik later urged Americans, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, to "Stay tuned, as Harvard Corporation Board Members' resignations must be forthcoming.

"They are complicit in covering up this massive scandal with unbelievable arrogance and cavalier attitudes that irreparably damaged Harvard’s academic integrity and moral leadership," she said.

The congresswoman, later appearing on Fox News, commented that accountability for Gay would not have happened if it weren't for the congressional hearing. 

"What it forced was greater scrutiny of her position as the president of Harvard," she said. "You have to remember, she was selected as president of Harvard in a shorter executive search than any other previous president and they should have found out that there were 50 credible allegations of plagiarism."

But the Harvard Corporation, said Stefanik, "tried to cover it up and threatened media outlets to sue them. [That is] a disgrace."

A university board must make sure its president, faculty, and students "uphold the rigors or academic integrity," she added. "Instead they wanted to hide this from their students, from their community, so this accountability would not have happened were it not for the very clear moral questions at the hearing."

But Harvard, she added, "knew her presidency was untenable, but I have been concerned they tried to make it a political issue. It's not political. It's about academic integrity and leadership. I'm a Harvard graduate myself, and they failed in the responsibility to oversee this institution. They should have dealt with it immediately after the congressional hearing like Penn did."

Gay said she plans to remain with Harvard's faculty, and Stefanik said that should not be allowed. 

"You can't have members of the faculty where a great percentage of their body of work is plagiarized," she said. "She doesn't have a very robust body of work compared to previous university presidents or faculty members. She should not stay on the faculty."

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