The controversy surrounding Claudia Gay, the president of Harvard University, remains fully supported by two new characters who entered the eye of the storm: the former Democratic president Barack Obama and Penny Pritzker. Pritzker, who is Jewish, is at the top of the university board and worked as Secretary of Commerce during the Obama administration.
According to a report from Jewish Insider, Obama quietly pressured Harvard to keep Gay in office, who faced a storm of criticism after a controversial anti-Semitic testimony before the House Education and Workforce Committee and also several accusations of plagiarism in several of her publications.
According to a source familiar with the matter, President Obama, a Harvard graduate, "had privately lobbied on Gay's behalf as she faced pressure to resign in the wake of her disastrous appearance before the congressional hearing on antisemitism."
"It sounded like people were being asked to close ranks to keep the broader administration stable — including its composition," the source told Jewish Insider.
Obama's private support for Gay puts Pritzker, who has long strongly supported Israel and in recent weeks has not spoken publicly about the Harvard president's statements, in a difficult situation.
Although the Harvard Board unanimously supported Gay, Pritzker, for weeks, dodged questions from the press about the anti-Semitic controversy and accusations of plagiarism that threatened the position of the university president, the Jewish Insider reported.
The problem for Pritzker, in addition to being ideological, is political since she participated in the process of electing Gay as president of Harvard. A decision that is now strongly questioned due to plagiarism scandals and her communication clumsiness in Congress.
According to various reports, Gay's future partially lies in the hands of Pritzker, who has not yet decided whether or not to support her fully.
"Despite mounting pressure for Pritzker to address the controversy now embroiling Gay's brief tenure, close watchers of the administration allege that she has continued to keep a low profile because she has nearly as much at stake in the ongoing ordeal as the president she herself recruited," reads the report from the Jewish Insider.
A Harvard member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that Pritzker "has no intention of going down with the ship" and is therefore, for the moment, remaining silent on the Claudine Gay case.
The revelation about Obama's private support comes after CNN confirmed the plagiarism accusations against Gay and The New York Times published an article calling for the Harvard president's resignation.
