Alison Frank Johnson, a Harvard professor of history and a co-author of the document, told the Daily Mail: "I get the impression that many people don't know how much support she has, as a scholar, colleague, and administrator, within the university - including from people who sometimes disagree with her.”
While the exact wording of the petition has not been released, Frank Johnson said that it asks the Harvard, "not to bend to political pressure, including pressure to remove the president."
Gay’s position came into question after a now infamous Congressional hearing appearence by the heads of Harvard, Penn and MIT, none of whom were able to confirm that calling for the genocide of Jews went against their universities’ codes of conduct.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, who along with Gay and MIT president Sally Kornbluth declined to answer the question definitively, was forced to resign last week after outcry from Jewish groups and alumni of the university.
However, in a similar move to Harvard, the board of MIT backed president Kornbluth
Last week, a rabbi resigned from Harvard’s antisemitism taskforce citing the “painfully inadequate testimony” given to Congress.
Rabbi David Wolpe, the Anti-Defamation League’s rabbinic fellow, also cited “events on campus” where Jews are routinely seen as oppressors.
He said: “Without rehashing all of the obvious reasons that have been endlessly adumbrated online, and with great respect for the members of the committee, the short explanation is that both events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I cannot make the sort of difference I had hoped.
“Still, there are several points worth making. I believe Claudine Gay to be both a kind and thoughtful person. Most of the students here wish only to get an education and a job, not prosecute ideological agendas, and there are many, many honorable, thoughtful and good people at the institution. Harvard is still a repository of extraordinary minds and important research.”
