Former Harvard President Claudine Gay has returned to the Ivy League university nearly three years after resigning amid a sprawling plagiarism scandal and her handling of antisemitism on campus.
Gay, whose six-month presidency was the shortest in Harvard’s history, is now teaching students about the institution she once led.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Gay will teach a course titled “What is a University?: Purpose and Politics in Higher Education,” which uses Harvard itself as a case study for examining the political and institutional battles surrounding American universities.
The selective course, which is limited to just 16 students, examines issues including admissions, curriculum, research, and university governance.
“A central goal of the course is to encourage Harvard students to engage in critical thinking about their own institution and to understand the background political, social, and market pressures that influence their college experience,” the course description states.
Claudine Gay is teaching a course on the purpose and politics of higher ed this semester:
“Readings include a former president’s lecture about gender at Harvard, as well as the school’s own reports on its legacy of slavery and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s connections… pic.twitter.com/aOQyc19LsX
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) September 23, 2026
Students will conclude the course by proposing their own “vision for institutional reform or reinvention.”
Gay will return for another two courses in the spring semester, including “African American Politics” and “Politics of Race, Ethnicity and Immigration.”
The latter, which Gay will teach alongside Professor Jennifer Hochschild, will examine “racial domination and contestation” throughout American history, as well as the role of race and ethnicity in elections and government.
Gay resigned as Harvard president in January 2024 following weeks of controversy and demands for her removal, although she later insisted she was the victim of a racist witch hunt.
Her position became untenable after a disastrous appearance before Congress in which she declined to say unequivocally that calls for the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard’s rules.
She instead insisted that such questions depended on “context.”
At today’s Congressional hearing, @Harvard President Claudine Gay refuses to say if calling for ‘genocide of Jews’ is against their Code of Conduct.
This is truly disgusting! With leadership like this, no wonder Harvard has become hot bed of Jew hatred!pic.twitter.com/72qgLMlULn
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) December 5, 2023
The congressional debacle was followed by mounting evidence of plagiarism in Gay’s academic work.
Harvard initially stood behind Gay and claimed a review had found no violation of its standards for research misconduct.
New Accusations that Embattled Harvard Prez. Claudine Gay Plagiarized her PhD Thesis
However, the university later acknowledged instances of “inadequate citation” and said she would make corrections to several publications.
Additional allegations subsequently emerged before Gay announced her resignation.
Despite relinquishing Harvard’s presidency, Gay remained a member of the university faculty.
She had previously served as Dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Dean of social science before becoming president in July 2023.
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