As of July, Claudine Gay has been serving as president of Harvard University. However, she’s faced criticism over her handling of tensions stemming from the Israel-Gaza war. Questions about possible plagiarism in her academic work have also arisen. Here are some key moments from Dr. Gay’s time in office:

-December 15, 2022 – Harvard University announces that Dr. Gay, the school’s dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, will become president the following year. If appointed, she will be the university’s first Black leader and the second woman to hold the position.

-July 1, 2023 – Officially beginning her role as president, Dr. Gay takes on the job amid a Supreme Court decision rejecting the use of race-conscious admissions at Harvard and other universities.

– October 8 – Harvard student groups publish an open letter blaming Israel for the ongoing violence in the Israel-Gaza conflict. Both Dr. Gay and the university’s leadership faced backlash for not immediately denouncing the letter.

– November 2 – An independent panel of three experts is convened to review the “anonymous allegations” of plagiarism in Dr. Gay’s work.

– December 8 – Responding to the criticisms over her handling of the accusations, Dr. Gay apologizes for not adequately addressing antisemitism on Harvard’s campus.

– December 12 – Harvard’s governing board acknowledges that Dr. Gay has made mistakes but has decided that she will remain in her role as president.
– December 20 – Harvard announces that Dr. Gay’s 1997 doctoral dissertation had two instances of insufficient citation, which she will update to rectify the issue.

The names Anemona Hartocollis, Sarah Mervosh, Jennifer Schuessler, Vimal Patel, Dana Goldstein, Jeremy W. Peters, Rob Copeland, and Stephanie Saul contributed to this report.