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VISION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will operate to appeal to the broadest segments of the greater Detroit Jewish community, refl ecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the morale and spirit of the community and advocating Jewish unity, identity and continuity. DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205, Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-354-6060 thejewishnews.com Publisher The Detroit Jewish News Foundation | Board of Directors: Chair: Gary Torgow Vice President: David Kramer Secretary: Robin Axelrod Treasurer: Max Berlin Board members: Michael J. 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Cohen, Louis Finkelman, Samantha Foon, Yevgeniya Gazman, Stacy Gittleman, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Karen Schwartz, Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein, Nathaniel Warshay, Julie Smith Yolles, Ashley Zlatopolsky Advertising Sales Director of Advertising: Keith Farber kfarber@thejewishnews.com Senior Account Executive: Kathy Harvey-Mitton kmitton@thejewishnews.com | Business Office Director of Operations: Amy Gill agill@thejewishnews.com Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho agusho@thejewishnews.com Operations Assistant: Ashlee Szabo Circulation: Danielle Smith Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner | Production By Farago & Associates Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Kaitlyn Iezzi, Kelly Kosek, Michelle Sheridan 6 | JANUARY 18 • 2024 J N opinion Personal responsibility and moral courage: Claudine Gay’s failings as a leader C ourage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” When Winston Churchill spoke these words, little did he imagine that a future, ousted president of Harvard University hypocritically would stake a claim to courage in her parting blow in the New York Times. The irony being that she failed as a leader because of a complete dearth of moral and professional courage. Wednesday, the New York Times published an essay by former Harvard president Claudine Gay entitled, “What Just Happened at Harvard is Bigger Than Me.” (Being Ellen, I must begin by correcting her grammar. The title ought to be “Bigger Than I.” #sorrynotsorry.) Substantively, it is a wonder of a piece, vacillating between the whine of a generation lacking personal accountability to accusatory, hypocritical claims that extremist ideologues are attacking and undermining higher education and “trusted institutions” for their own nefarious purposes. She swings from claiming courage and belief in her work and her theories to complaining that her ouster occurred because “I make an ideal canvas for projecting every anxiety about the generational and demographic changes unfolding on American campuses: a Black woman selected to lead a storied institution.” She acknowledges that she “made mistakes” in her initial statement after Oct. 7, in her congressional testimony, in citations to her scholarly body of work. Despite recognizing those mistakes, she cannot see how or why they justify her ouster. She seems to believe she deserves the space to make grave, public, institutionally humiliating mistakes without consequence. Bravo, Liz Magill, for going quietly into the night and sparing us such sanctimonious bitterness. Boy, has Gay missed the point. This manic essay serves as definitive evidence that she needed to go. She really still does not get it. People do not trust these institutions anymore because they demonstrate daily a terrifying lack of moral compass. When students chant, “From the River to the Sea,” promoting genocide and the wiping from the map of a UN member state, while simultaneously being unable to identify the river or the sea in question, trust in the PURELY COMMENTARY Ellen Ginsberg Simon The Times of Israel