Public Lynchings and their Myriad Manifestations

In recent weeks, there has been a hostile maneuver by political activists, religious zealots, and conservatives to dictate who holds leadership roles in universities. Not even the nation’s most esteemed educational institutions are immune from the influence of public opinion and big money.

Despite last month’s vote of confidence from the Harvard Corporation, President Claudine Gay resigned from her position this week, ending a six-month tenure plagued by allegations of plagiarism and, more recently and visibly, backlash over her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus. Her resignation came after personal attacks from politicians such as Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alumna, and Harvard donors such as Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager.

Some of Gay’s critics celebrated her Gay’s resignation as a victory to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs qualifications, arguing that her very appointment was a university strategy to promote diversity.

“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,” Gay said in her statement.

The Harvard Corporation echoed this sentiment and wrote that Gay had been subjected to “deeply personal and sustained attacks” that included “racist vitriol directed at her through disgraceful emails and phone calls.” 

While Gay’s writing included unintentional citation errors, the institution had resolved the issue and maintained pride and confidence in its leader. Moreover, we proposition the high likelihood that AI software would detect similar errors in works by other university presidents, professors, Congresswomen and even hedge fund executives. Rather, we suggest that the central issue here is the racism faced by Black women in leadership roles resulting from unrealistic standards and expectations than their White colleagues. This racism is exacerbated by a daily barrage of microaggressions, opposition and criticism,  designed to dismantle the promise of greater equity in America. 

Like many others, we are extremely concerned over the aggressive right-wing attacks on higher education that threatens academic freedom. Detractors have sought to reduce funding for public universities, challenge race and gender discourse in the classrooms, roll back tenure, and eliminate initiatives that make colleges more welcoming to students of color.

According to Rep. Stefanik, Gay’s resignation for plagiarism allegations was “just the beginning of the reckoning” and claimed House Republicans will carry out a “long overdue” cleansing of Ivy League higher education’s “institutional rot.”

It is heartbreaking to consider the lessons students who bear witness to these personal and political attacks. Dr. Gay has been deliberately and publicly lynched. Such malevolence is an affront to us all and demonstrate that none are exempt from the virulence of racism and white supremacy.