A top law firm has decided to stop conducting on-campus interviews at Harvard due to the controversial congressional testimony of the school's beleaguered president, Claudine Gay.
In testimony before the House Education and Workforce Committee, Gay avoided questions about whether students who advocate for the "genocide of Jews" violate the school's code of conduct.
As a result of her testimony, the law firm Edelson PC will no longer participate in on-campus recruiting at Harvard Law School, the firm’s CEO Jay Edelson announced.
Edelson wrote a letter informing Harvard's director of recruitment and operations of its decision, The Washington Examiner reported.
"We, along with the rest of the nation, observed Dr. Claudine Gay’s testimony before Congress, wherein she refused to unequivocally state that advocating for genocide would breach the school’s code of conduct," the letter read. "As an expert in political and social studies, Dr. Gay certainly knew to expect the types of questions that would be asked of her.
"Factoring in her extensive experience and preparation with a crisis management team, Dr. Gay’s testimony before Congress cannot be seen as merely a slip of the tongue," the letter continued.
Edelson PC is a top plaintiff law firm that recruits employees and summer associates primarily from Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, the Harvard Crimson noted.
During its history, the firm has earned $45 billion for its clients, with its most notable settlements including a $6.5 million case against Facebook and a $10 million case against Roblox. According to its website, six Harvard graduates are currently employed there.
Edelson said in an interview with the Harvard Crimson that he was disappointed by Gay’s refusal to unequivocally condemn antisemitic hate speech.
“I understand the intellectual arguments that can be made about why, technically, contextualism matters,” said Edelson. “But she’s one of the leaders of this country, and she was asked something which everyone is listening to and wanted an answer on an emotional level.”
Gay later apologized for her testimony in an interview with The Crimson.
Meanwhile, Gay has received the university board's support, but is still facing calls to resign as president.
The president of the University of Pennsylvania, M. Elizabeth Magill, resigned four days after she appeared before Congress and seemed to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide of Jews should be punished, The New York Times reported.
Separately, the president of Harvard, Claudine Gay, has been accused of plagiarism in two scholarly articles she wrote that were published in 2001 and 2017. Gay denied the allegations, saying in a statement last week that she stands by the integrity of her scholarship.
“Throughout my career, I have worked to ensure my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards,” she said.
The Harvard Corporation, the university’s top governing body, conducted a review of Gay's writings and revealed inadequate citations in a few instances but “no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.”
Gay later submitted corrections to the two articles, University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain told CNN.