Opinion | The allegations against Harvard’s Claudine Gay

Where is the accountability for Harvard? Since attaining her doctoral degree, Ms. Gay has led a distinguished career and has been recognized and rewarded with tenure by Harvard. She was selected presumably over many other distinguished academics to lead the university. Her credentials were checked and rechecked, and a favorable judgment was made.

I understand the motivation of the bomb-throwers incensed by her testimony — Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), billionaire contributors to Harvard, and others — who continued to look for and find a reason to punish Ms. Gay, a Black woman leading one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, but Ms. Marcus? What a disappointment.

Judith Winston, Washington

Ruth Marcus’s op-ed on Harvard University President Claudine Gay set the right course for all of us. Her call, that Harvard really has no choice but to set the leadership example, given its institutional stature and generational influence, will hopefully move the university’s board, and Ms. Gay herself, to finally do the right thing.

It’s worth noting that this op-ed could not have been easy for Ms. Marcus to write, given that she has a law degree from Harvard.

However, perhaps her task and her conclusion were made a little easier by the fact that it is consistent with her passionate belief in justice and the rule of law and with the for-the-ages quote from Pulitzer Prize winner Albert Schweitzer: “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”

Thanks to Ms. Marcus for setting the journalistic opinion example.

Keith Henderson, Washington