The political scientist Claudine Gay became Harvard University’s dean of social science in 2018 and, five years later, its first Black president and only the second woman in the university’s 387-year history in the post. Later that year, on December 5, 2023, Ms. Gay testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce on antisemitism on university campuses, following Hamas’s infamous October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Ms. Gay’s answers were sensible as she tried to hold the line between students’ speech and conduct. However, her words went viral soon after for all the wrong reasons.