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Harvard president apologizes for her disastrous testimony at antisemitism hearing: ‘Words matte
The president of Harvard University apologized in an interview with the school’s student newspaper after facing widespread condemnation for her disastrous congressional testimony this week, in which she and other university presidents failed to explicitly say calls for genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying and harassment on campus. “I am sorry,” Harvard University president Claudine Gay said to The Harvard Crimson on Thursday. “Words matter.” The apology came just days after Gay, the president of the University of Pennsylvania and the president of MIT testified at a House committee hearing focused on antisemitism on campus, to widespread criticism that they have not done enough to ensure the safety of Jewish students and others at their respective schools. Harvard, UPenn and MIT have all come under fire – along with other US academic institutions – over perceived inaction against antisemitism on their campuses, especially in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel and the subsequent war. At UPenn, for example, President Liz Magill has been under pressure to resign for weeks, as major donors and others say they have lost confidence in her ability to lead the school.
