Harvard President Gay apologizes for failing to convey ‘my truth’ during congressional hearing

Harvard University President Claudine Gay has issued an apology for her Tuesday congressional testimony in which she insisted that the acceptability of “calling for the genocide of Jews” on Harvard’s campus “depends on context” of the call for genocide.

“I am sorry. Words matter,” Gay told the Harvard Crimson on Thursday.

[RELATED: Here are the answsers Harvard, Penn, MIT presidents gave when asked if calls for genocide against Jews are against campus rules. (HINT: none of them are ‘yes’)]

“I got caught up in what had become at that point, an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures,” Gay told The Crimson. “What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged.”

“Substantively, I failed to convey what is my truth.”

During the hearing Rep. Elise Stefanik (R- NY) asked Gay: “At Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment?”

“It can be, depending on the context,” Gay answered.

[RELATED: Harvard, Penn presidents flip-flop on whether they’d protect Jewish students]

Stefanik offered Gay multiple chances to re-answer the question, pressing her for a ‘yes or no.’

Gay’s various answers were as follows: 

• “It can be, depending on the context.”
  
  
• When asked what context would be necessary for a rule violation, Gay answered that the call for genocide must be “targeted at an individual.”
  
  
• “Anti-Semitic rhetoric, when it crosses into conduct, it amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation. That is actionable conduct, and we do take action.”
  
  
• “Again, it depends on the context.”

Gay issued a statement via social media on Wednesday, finally stating that “Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”