'Bridge the fissures': Harvard's interim president writes about incomparable period of tension

Days after Claudine Gay resigned as president, Harvard's interim leader Alan M. Garber, in his first statement to the university since taking office, expressed regret over her departure and urged affiliates to unite in order to ease tensions on campus.

Calling on the campus community to "bridge the fissures" that divide them in the midst of what he called the most “painful and disorienting time” in the institution's history in the past 50 years, Garber wrote: “Since I first arrived here as an undergraduate in 1973, I cannot recall a period of comparable tension on our campus and across our community.”

“That tension has been exacerbated by concerns about how we address and combat antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias; safeguard free expression; and foster a climate of mutual understanding,” he added.

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Claudine Gay's resignation has added ‘a deep sense of loss’, says Garber

In his Monday email addressed to members of the Harvard community, Garber reiterated his commitment to the University and acknowledged the unusual crisis that resulted in his selection as school's acting president. "It’s crucial that we bridge the fissures that have weakened our sense of community and, through our words and deeds, affirm the immense worth of what we do here, notwithstanding our shortcomings,” he said.

He further said that Gay's decision to step down amid the controversy “added a deep sense of loss” on Harvard’s campus.

Garber (76), who is Jewish, was among the first to publicly apologise for the university's November 2023 statement on the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza.

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Claudine Gay resigned amid claims of plagiarism and antisemitism backlash

As Congress continues to look into Harvard's treatment of plagiarism claims against Gay and its response to antisemitism, Garber's first significant duty as president will be leading the university out of its ongoing leadership crisis.

Garber took over as interim president last Tuesday after Gay stepped down from the post. Allegations of plagiarism in Gay's scholarly work and criticism to the University's handling of antisemitism on campus dominated the final months of Gay's presidency, the shortest in the University's history.

Gay, in an op-ed in The New York Times following her resignation, stated that she “fell into a well-laid trap” at that hearing, admitting that “I neglected to clearly articulate that calls for the genocide of Jewish people are abhorrent and unacceptable and that I would use every tool at my disposal to protect students from that kind of hate.”