After an American media frenzy of a few weeks, the new president of Harvard has resigned after the shortest term ever, only 6 months.

This saga began with a US congressional hearing in December at which the presidents of drie major universities (all three women) were asked to say something about the increasing anti-Semitism at their universities. Only the subject is of course immediately complicated, and one can and may (and should, perhaps) wonder why the US Congress finds it necessary to hold a hearing on rising anti-Semitism, while meanwhile they also support Israel, a regime that systematically murders and imprisons civilians including kids without trial. It’s a preemptive strike to scare anyone who even considers showing pro-Palestinian sentiments.

But that’s not fair. As much as an increase in anti-Semitism can be seen, and as grim as it is, even in the Netherlands, speaking out against the post-October 7 horror that cannot and should not be called “blanket” anti-Semitism; criticism of a country’s actions is incomparable to hate of a race or religion. Being against the regime of Afghanistan is not islamophobia, and being against anti-vaxers in the biblebelt (including our own) isn’t Christian hatred.

Gay herself calls the hearing a “well-laid trap,” she does so, remarkably enough, in a piece in the NY Times, who were themselves instrumental in her downfall, by continuing to report on what I think has no equivalent in English, but what we do so nicely in Dutch “fophef,” a storm in a gals water. Indeed, Gay said in her response that it is tricky to just say whether students are allowed to use the term “intifada.” Tricky she said, because there is also such a thing as freedom of speech, even stronger in America perhaps than here. In a sense, Trump’s lawsuits on Jan. 6 are also about freedom of speech versus inciting violence.

After the lawsuit, American far-right opinion makers immediately called for her resignation, but initially that led to nothing, reportedly because Barack Obama, among others, backed Gay.

But that did not sway conservatives. This is atypical, as right-wing America is not exactly known to be such a fan of the Jewish cause, so there must almost be something else at play as well: Gay is black, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and researches the effects of slavery and the role of race in elections. That obviously played a role in the attacks on her work and character.

A new line of attack was opened: plagiarism in her research. Despite the fact that an internal committee had previously cleared Gay of misconduct, it pressed on. “Plagiarism is never allowed,” even though this was e.g. a thank-you note that sounded a lot like that of a lab mate, and a description of statistical results that always sounds formulaic: “our research shows that variable X and Y are strongly correlated with each other” can only be written in a few ways, she had to go. Extreme right-wing activist Chris Rufo began an unprecedented hate campaign, even admitting that he had planned its timing to maximize damage to her career, and, like a bad guy in a B-movie, explained live on Twitter and later even in the Wall Street Journal how his little plan would succeed, but in contrast to most, villains, his plan did succeed, and exactly as he said it would: more respectable “leftist” media like the Washington Post went along with the frame, one thing led to another and “here we are,” Gay is as Rufo himself calls it, scalped.

What’s going on here is the “weaponization” of data analysis; anyone, even someone not interested in the difference between a thank you note and a paper, between stealing someone’s work and using a standard phrase, can easily run anyone’s pieces through a checker and put “you see” by the screenshots, and the fuss is happening. Then all you have to do is wait for it to blow up further. Fuelling hatred of Gay is reminiscent of GamerGate and of “has Justine landed yet” from the early days of social media.

Now you may still think: oh well, do we care…. It’s very very annoying that this woman is paying the price for misjudging public opinion about Palestine/Isreal and the reaction is unfair, but and children die every day in Gaza and in Ukraine, so yes….

But the Gay case does not stand alone, there is a hate campaign going on in America against the whole idea that non-white non-males are also claiming their right to participate in business and science, including, for example, Elon Musk, one of the most powerful men on earth. Diversity policy, that is unfair, that is racism and that gives people we still do not “like” but access to power and public debate, it should be over with, and soon. Disgruntled men went to the Human Rights Board twice already to complain about the “preference” of women, once in vain, once successfully, although TU Eindhoven adjusted the rules, after which they were approved.

And that while the advance of women in science has actually stalled, the LNVH reports this year that growth has stalled at a scant 30%. Even in my age group, professors under 40, parity in chairs is not achieved; only 42% of these positions are held by a woman. And that’s for the generation of which some 50% were female graduate students (this was true for the first time in 2006). Scientists with children are still at a big disadvantage, if they are women. So there is not really a basis for the idea that we as women will soon drive men out of science, and nevertheless, according to some people, it is going too far.

It is very tempting to think that all this is not so bad, that the rights we now have as, e.g., women in science are acquired and can never be taken away, and that there are now enough of us to counter this misery. But remember that it takes effort to keep reporting on this, I could have spent the last hour on research instead of this column. In the immortal words of Toni Morrison:

Distracting, frightening has a function, but there is also plenty to be afraid about, rights we have can be taken away just like that, and positions of mach become unattainable. E.g. I was standing there the other day clapping my ears that there was ever (in my lifetime even!) a female Democratic governor of Texas. You can’t imagine that now. And how about this photo of (sadly unnamed) Iranian parliamentarians in the 1970s (source). Iran also had a female minister in the 1960s, but 10 years later than the Netherlands, Farrokhroo Parsa.

Dot should make us realize once again that the rights of women, and other people who historically have less power, will have to continue to be fought for.

Now I think allowing more women, people of color, people with disabilities etc into “power” whatever that means, from science to journalism, is a matter of human rights: research, news, it concerns us all so we should all be allowed to participate. But that seems a difficult standpoint in the present time. Then I have another one that might go down well with the BNR audience…. Diversity is good for the wallet!

Research by McKinsey shows that companies with more women and people from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds at the helm perform better financially. Companies with 30% senior women outperform those with fewer women at the top by up to nearly 50%. And the most culturally and ethnically diverse companies did up to 36% better than less diverse organizations. It’s unfortunate that that has to be the reason, but let it be so, and let everyone unite in the fight for more power and influence for more diverse people!