Asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard's code of conduct, Gay mentioned it relied on the context, including when "speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies."

Gay later apologized, telling the The Crimson scholar newspaper she obtained caught up in a heated alternate on the House committee listening to and did not correctly denounce threats of violence towards Jewish college students.

"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," Gay mentioned.

The episode marred Gay's early tenure at Harvard — she grew to become president in July — and sowed discord on the Ivy League campus.