Harvard taps Jewish provost who lamented school’s failure to denounce Hamas as interim president

Harvard has named its provost and professor Alan Garber as its interim president following the resignation of Claudine Gay.

Gay stepped aside yesterday amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over her testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.

Garber, who is Jewish, teaches courses on healthcare policy, economics, public policy, health policy and management at various Harvard schools and departments.

In a November interview with the Harvard Crimson, Garber lamented the school’s initial statement on Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which failed to condemn the terror group and did not comment on a letter signed by over 30 Harvard student groups that said Israel was “entirely responsible” for the violence.

“I certainly have regrets about the first statement,” he told the Crimson. “Our goal is to ensure that our community is safe, secure, and feels well supported — and that first statement did not succeed in that regard.”

He noted that a subsequent statement issued by Gay condemning Hamas’s “terrorist atrocities” was “important in rectifying some of the misimpressions that we created with that first statement.”

Garber will serve as president “until a new leader for Harvard is identified and takes office,” the Harvard Corporation says.