Harvard President Apologizes for Comments Made in Congressional Testimony Interview with Student Newspaper

"I apologize," Gay told The Harvard Crimson in an interview on Thursday. "Words have significance."

"The words you used only add to the suffering and pain. It's hard to believe that you don't feel regret," she told The Crimson. Gay, together with the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, testified before Congress members in a hearing on Tuesday that was centered on addressing antisemitism on college campuses.

Several US academic institutions, including Harvard, have faced criticism for their perceived inaction regarding alleged antisemitism on campuses after recent terror attacks by Hamas and subsequent strikes on Gaza by Israel. The Department of Education is investigating 14 colleges, including Harvard, for discrimination involving shared ancestry following the October attacks.

At a House hearing on Tuesday, Magill, along with the presidents of Harvard and MIT, did not explicitly state that calling for the genocide of Jews would violate their code of conduct on bullying or harassment. Instead, they explained that it would depend on the circumstances and conduct.

Gay told the newspaper that she had become caught up in a heated exchange with Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, but should have remembered her commitment to opposing violence and threats against the Jewish community and students at Harvard. She emphasized that such behavior has no place at the university and will always be challenged.

The Harvard president told the paper shes heard about how much pain students are in over the past few months.