'Sounds Like a Scam': Obama 'Secretly Lobbied' to Retain Harvard Prez Amid Antisemitism Row

Former President Barack Obama “secretly lobbied” Harvard University officials to stick by President Claudine Gay amid calls for her resignation over allegations regarding antisemitism on campus and committing plagiarism.

Obama, a 1991 graduate of Harvard’s law school, asked the university to let Gay remain in office after the controversy surrounding the testimony on December 5 before the US House Education and Workforce Committee. “It sounded like people were being asked to close ranks to keep the broader administration stable — including its composition,” a source told Jewish Insider regarding Obama’s involvement.

In early December, Gay gave long, legalistic answers when asked whether students who call for the “genocide of Jews” on their campuses violate codes of student conduct. Blowback to their testimony was rapid and intense, with donors threatening to rescind millions of dollars to the institutions. Gay later acknowledged her mistake for failing to strongly condemn threats of anti-Semitic violence on her campus.

In a December 12 statement, the Harvard Corporation, one of the university’s two governing boards reaffirmed its support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University. US media reports said Gay’s fate partially lies in the hands of ex-Obama Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, whose brother is Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who serves as a senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation.

Pressure again started building on the Ivy League university this week after Harvard’s research integrity officer, Stacey Springs, reportedly received a complaint detailing more than 40 allegations of plagiarism regarding Gay’s academic works.

On Wednesday, Harvard announced that “examples of duplicative language without appropriate attribution” were found in Gay’s 1997 doctoral dissertation. Another review by the Harvard Corporation said no other improper citations were discovered in “all of President Gay’s other published works.” Meanwhile, Republican lawmaker Elise Stefanik, whose House Committee grilling ignited the firestorm, accused Harvard of shielding Gay.

“Harvard President Claudine Gay faces OVER 40 serious allegations of plagiarism. A single case of plagiarism is against Harvard’s code of conduct and can lead to expulsion for students. America knows the continuation of Claudine Gay as President is untenable. Harvard is too afraid of the Far Left to stand up for academic and moral integrity,” she said on social media platform X. GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also chimed in on the report of Obama’s involvement in the row. “Sounds like a case of Yes We Scam,” he wrote on X.