Harvard President Claudine Gay's fate hangs in the balance with more than 650 faculty signing open letter in support - as she's now accused of throttling free speech and ousting a law school professor for taking on legal defense of Harvey Weinstein

Claudine Gay's role as Harvard president hangs in the balance after her congressional testimony - as she has now been accused of throttling free speech and firing a law professor for defending Harvey Weinstein. 

The academic, 53, survived a scheduled meeting of Harvard's board on Sunday amid calls for her removal, but her future at the Ivy league remains uncertain as billionaire Bill Ackman has launched a campaign for her removal.

University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill is the only one of the three ivy league presidents to step down following their testimony last week - but pressure is mounting on Harvard to let go of Gay, who said calls for a 'genocide of Jews' would only constitute harassment 'depending on the context.'

Meanwhile over 640 faculty members at Harvard have signed a letter in support of Gay, urging the school to resist calls to fire her, describing the attacks against her as 'politically motivated.' 

Harvard legal scholar Lawrence Tribe, who previously slammed Gay's testimony as 'deeply troubling' told CNN he signed the petition because “once external pressures, whether from ultrawealthy donors or from politicians pursuing their ideological agendas, override the internal decision-making processes of universities, we are on the road to tyranny.”

On Monday, the Executive Committee of Harvard University’s Alumni Association announced their full support for the scholar, and asked the school's governing boards to publicly back her, according to the The Harvard Crimson. 

The group wrote: 'President Gay is the right leader to guide the University during this challenging time... She is thoughtful. She is kind. She is resolutely dedicated to the growth and wellbeing of our very diverse community. We recognize that there was disappointment in her testimony this past week. President Gay has pointed this out and apologized for any pain her testimony caused–a powerful demonstration of her integrity, determination, and courage.'

It comes after Ackman sent a letter to Harvard, his alma mater, accusing Gay of 'doing  more damage to Harvard’s reputation than anyone in the university’s history.'

The billionaire demanded that the university's board of directors review Gay's history, including accusations of plagiarism, and of discriminatingly against those that don't fit the look of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Ackman said: 'As Dean, Gay showed no respect for basic American legal principles when she fired Harvard Law School Professor Ronald Sullivan as residential dean for taking on the legal defense of Harvey Weinstein. President Gay should hope that someday when she needs counsel, she will be able to obtain quality representation for herself.' 

Ackman also mentioned the case of former Winthrop House faculty dean Ronald Sullivan, who in 2019 accused Gay of dismissing him from his role because of his work on Harvey Weinstein's defense team.

The law professor, who was the first black dean of a Harvard school, accused Gay and Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana of lying about their motives for dismissing him when they claimed it was because he fostered a toxic work environment.

'The actions were cowardly and craven and Dean Gay and Dean Khurana just consistently and repeatedly lied to the student body and they know better,' he said, according to The Harvard Crimson.

'Their problem was that I represented an unpopular person... They said it to my face and other senior members said it to my face and then they turned around and lied to the student body.'

Harvard has denied the decision was because of Sullivan's work with Weinstein, which sparked protests on campus. Sullivan remains a law professor at Harvard.

In his letter to the Harvard board, Ackman also cited Harvard's plummeting in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) College Free Speech Rankings since Gay took over. While the school has never been high on the list, it reached its worst-ever ranking, landing at the very last spot.

FIRE said: 'Harvard completed its downward spiral in dramatic fashion, coming in dead last with the worst score ever: 0.00 out of a possible 100.00. This earns it the notorious distinction of being the only school ranked this year with an “Abysmal” speech climate.'

Gay, a professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies, was inaugurated as Harvard's first black president back ink July. She has taken interest in DEI policies and created the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

Ackman claimed 'the actions of the OEDIB have led to preferences and favoritism for certain racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ groups at the expense of other groups, and made some members of the Harvard community feel included at the expense of others that are excluded.'

The billionaire was accused of racism when he suggested Gay had only been hired because she matched the DEO profile.

In his latest open letter, he said: 'I was recently accused by several bloggers and other commentators of being a racist when I shared that the board, in the search process that led to the hiring of President Gay, would not consider a candidate for president that did not meet DEI criteria. 

'I have confirmed now from multiple sources that the search committee that led to President Gay’s appointment excluded non-DEI eligible candidates from the process.'

DailyMail.com has not independently verified Ackman's claim. 

Ackman has also shared accusations of plagiarism made against Gay by bloggers Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet, who claim the Harvard leader lifted identical wording for her 1997 dissertation. 

The bloggers accuse Gay of using nearly verbatim language from authors Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam and scholar Carol Swain.

Swain reacted to the claims on Twitter, writing: 'I just learned of analysis of #ClaudineGay ’s work and the allegations of plagiarism. I have not read the articles or books in question. However, two things come to mind: imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery and secondly Dr. Gay’s committee, reviewers, and colleagues should have caught these alleged transgressions.'

The author added: 'I would like to know if [Gay] cited me in her published works on districting and representation. This would have had far more long term implications for my career. In academia we get rewarded on the basis of citations.'

Gay has apologized for her performance during last week's hearing, but the backlash has continued.

On Sunday two billboard trucks replaying her remarks to Congress were dispatched to the Massachusetts campus hours.

Gay, UPenn's Liz Magill and MIT's Sally Kornbluth were summoned before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Tuesday by lawmakers concerned by reports of a rise in antisemitism at leading universities.

They faced heated questioning from committee chair Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) but failed to assert that calls for genocide against Jews on campus would definitively constitute harassment.

'This is only the very beginning of addressing the pervasive rot of antisemitism that has destroyed the most 'prestigious' higher education institutions in America,' Stefanik wrote on Saturday evening.

Adding: 'Harvard and MIT, do the right thing. The world is watching.'

Just minutes after Magill's statement announcing her departure, the chair of the Upenn's board of trustees, Scott Bok, also resigned.

Bok's Vice Chair, Julie Beren Platt, has been named interim chair of the board.

In a statement issued Saturday evening Magill wrote: 'It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution.

'It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn's vital missions.'

In his own resignation statement Bok defended Magill as a 'good person' who is 'not the slightest bit anti-Semitic' but had made a 'misstep' after 'months of relentless external attacks.'

Gay apologized for her remarks on Thursday as the backlash intensified, telling college newspaper The Crimson she 'got caught up in what had become at that point, an extended, combative exchange about policies and procedures.'

'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,' she added.