Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University, resigned on Tuesday, January 2, amid rising criticism over anti-Semitism and plagiarism allegations. She will allegedly return to her regular faculty role. So, who will take her place now? Following Gay’s resignation, Harvard’s interim president is Alan M. Garber. Garber returned to his alma university, Harvard, 12 years ago. He holds several positions at the school.
The Harvard Corporation welcomed Garber in an online statement. “We are also grateful to Alan M. Garber, Provost and Chief Academic Officer, who has served with distinction in that role for the past twelve years – and who has agreed to serve as Interim President until a new leader for Harvard is identified and takes office. An economist and a physician, he is a distinguished and wide-ranging scholar with appointments at Harvard Medical School, Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health,” it wrote.
Garber voiced “regret” about Harvard’s position on the Israel-Hamas conflict in November
“We are fortunate to have someone of Alan’s broad and deep experience, incisive judgment, collaborative style, and extraordinary institutional knowledge to carry forward key priorities and to guide the university through this interim period,” it added. Garber voiced “regret” about Harvard’s position on the Israel-Hamas conflict in November. “Our goal is to ensure that our community is safe, secure, and feels well supported — and that first statement did not succeed in that regard,” he said in an interview with the Harvard Crimson. Garber also stated that the present anti-Semitism on campus is the most “serious” he has encountered since joining the college. “In my view, none has been as serious for the University as this one — and I’m even including Covid in that,” he went on to say.
“The community was immediately divided, and that is not true of every crisis that we face,” Garber said of the ongoing conflict sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. “It is a combustible situation, and one in which many people are grieving.”