🚨 Axios PM: Harvard prez falls

Plus: Elon Musk reversal | Tuesday, January 02, 2024

Open in app View in browser   Presented By The Boeing Company   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Jan 02, 2024 🧤Happy Tuesday! Today's PM — edited by Noah Bressner — is 580 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for the copy edit.     1 big thing: Harvard prez falls Harvard University President Claudine Gay speaks during a House hearing last month. Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Four weeks after a disastrous appearance at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism, Harvard University President Claudine Gay announced her resignation today. Why it matters: Intense pressure from Harvard's Jewish community, donors and Congress — combined with a drip, drip, drip of plagiarism allegations — pushed her to become the second Ivy League president to resign in the last month. What's happening: Gay, who started as the school's president six months ago, will be the shortest-tenured leader in Harvard history, Axios' April Rubin writes. She'll return to the school's faculty. 🔎 Zoom in: Plagiarism allegations against Gay — unearthed by conservative activists — have snowballed since her testimony on Dec. 5. The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication, writes that nearly 50 allegations of plagiarism have emerged. An internal Harvard investigation found instances of "duplicative language without appropriate attribution," The Harvard Crimson reports. Gay requested three corrections to her dissertation, published in 1997. Between the lines: Republican lawmakers celebrated Gay's resignation as a victory for the House GOP's investigations, Axios' Andrew Solender writes. University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned in the immediate aftermath of the House hearing. But MIT President Sally Kornbluth appears secure in her role. 🔮 What's next: Harvard's provost Alan Garber will serve as interim president. The school's governing board said the search for a new one "will begin in due course." Share this story ... Read Gay's letter.     2. 🚨 Drone strike kills Hamas leader Smoke rises at the scene of a drone strike in a suburb of Beirut today. Photo: Bilal Hussein/AP Hamas' deputy political leader was killed in an Israeli drone attack near Beirut, Axios' Barak Ravid writes. Why it matters: The attack is a serious blow to Hamas and could push the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group to escalate its attacks against Israel. Israel hasn't claimed responsibility for the attack, but one Israeli and two U.S. officials told Axios that Israel was behind the strike. Hezbollah's leader publicly warned Israel several weeks ago against trying to kill Hamas leaders in Beirut. He threatened a strong response if that happened. The senior official, Saleh al-Arouri, and five others were killed in the attack on a Hamas office, according to local press reports. Hamas confirmed al-Arouri's death and said he was "one of the architects" of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel. Keep reading.     A message from The Boeing Company Proud to partner with veterans     The pursuit is in all of us, including veterans who discover a new purpose with Boeing. We offer pathways for veterans to use the experience gained during their service to drive aerospace innovation forward. Together, we pursue the next horizon.     3. Catch me up Data: CoinGecko. Chart: Axios Visuals 📈 The price of Bitcoin hit $45,000 today for the first time since April 2022, continuing a surge that started last January. More from Axios Crypto co-author Brady Dale. 🗳️ GOP Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick visited Israel and met with IDF officials in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was attacked on Oct. 7, Axios' Barak Ravid reports. (Pictures) 🏛️ Multiple senators and members of Congress were targeted by swatting incidents over the holidays, spurring large and disruptive police responses at their homes. More from Axios' Ivana Saric.     4. 🐦 Musk reversal: Headlines return to X Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios   X has brought back headlines to user posts containing links — reversing an Elon Musk-driven change that the platform made just a few months ago, Axios' Ivana Saric writes. Why it matters: The platform's status as a hub for news was a major part of its identity — before Musk took over. Starting in October, the site didn't display headlines for articles that were posted by users, which Musk said would "greatly improve" aesthetics. Now a headline appears in small text at the bottom of the image. Keep reading.     A message from The Boeing Company Achieving sustainable aerospace together     Together with our industry partners, Boeing is defining a sustainable future of flight to meet aviation's commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 with a near-term focus on sustainable aviation fuels. We innovate for a better tomorrow.   📬 Thanks for reading. 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