Blackburn cheers Harvard President Gay’s resignation: ‘She should have done it sooner’

Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn weighed in on Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation from her post Tuesday, saying it was long overdue.

Gay resigned as Harvard University president amid plagiarism allegations and her and other Ivy League presidents’ recent disastrous testimony at a congressional hearing about the antisemitism scandals plaguing their respective campuses.

During a phone interview Tuesday with Fox News Digital, Blackburn said Gay’s resignation was ‘appropriate.’

‘It is appropriate that she stepped down from her post,’ Blackburn said. ‘She should have done it sooner.’

‘I give the House committee a lot of credit for the way they conducted that hearing and the results that it has brought forward,’ the Tennessee senator continued.

‘There is no place for antisemitism on our nation’s college campuses or in this country,’ she added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard University for comment.

Gay announced her resignation in a letter on Tuesday afternoon but will return to the Harvard faculty despite widespread plagiarism allegations against her.

According to the Ivy League school’s newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, Gay’s resignation will bring an end to the shortest Harvard presidency in the university’s history.

The Boston Globe reported that, according to their sources, Harvard Provost Dr. Alan Garber will become interim president.

After her congressional testimony, Gay issued an apology and the university’s board ultimately decided to stick by her despite widespread calls from donors and members of Congress for her ouster. The hearing came in response to rising antisemitism at American universities after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel.

Gay has also been at the center of a scandal in which she was accused of multiple instances of plagiarism in scholarly works.

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and Jennifer Griffin contributed reporting.