After Harvard and Penn president resignations, focus of ire shifts to MIT’s Kornbluth

In the weeks following their testimonies on antisemitism, Magill and Gay resigned. So far, Kornbluth has kept her job.

Last month, three university presidents drew intense backlash for their testimonies on antisemitism on campus during a congressional hearing. Today, only one has still kept that position. When asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in December whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” amounted to bullying and harassment on campus, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, Harvard University President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth responded with opaque, legalistic answers. Magill became a focus of activists determined to push her out; she resigned not long after the disastrous hearing. Harvard’s Gay also drew criticism, for the hearing and for a plagiarism scandal. With Gay’s Tuesday resignation, MIT’s Kornbluth became the last of the trio still helming a university – and some of the loudest voices pushing for Gay and Magill to go have signaled they may focus on her next. After Gay’s resignation, Bill Ackman, a billionaire investor who pushed publicly and vocally for Gay’s removal, posted on X “Et tu Sally?”, seeming to refer to Kornbluth. On Tuesday, when asked for comment in light of Gay’s resignation, a spokesperson for MIT said the school’s “leadership remains focused on ensuring the work of MIT.” Shortly after her testimony, Magill issued a video apology, saying, “in that moment, I was focused on our University’s longstanding policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable.”