Harvard names Claudine Gay as the first person of colour as University president

Gay, 52, is just the second woman to be elected to head the school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard said that Gay, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, will take over as the university's 30th president on July 1, 2023.

Harvard University named Claudine Gay, a dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, as its new president on Thursday, the first African American to hold the post at the prestigious university. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gay, 52, is just the second woman to be elected to lead the institution. Gay, a Haitian immigrant's daughter, will become Harvard's 30th president on July 1st, 2023, according to Harvard.

Penny Pritzker, head of Harvard's presidency search committee, praised Claudine as "a brilliant leader who is passionately dedicated to preserving and strengthening Harvard's academic excellence."

In 2018, Gay was appointed dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, leading it through the challenging COVID-19 epidemic.

After the news, Gay stated, "Today, we are in a period of unprecedented and increasing change — socially, politically, economically, and technologically." Many fundamental beliefs about how the world functions and how people should interact with one another are being put to the test, she continued.

Suits have been brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, challenging their policy of affirmative action. The Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s given rise to that strategy in an effort to overcome the legacy of discrimination against African Americans in higher education.