Harvard University's president Claudine Gay has resigned after facing allegations of plagiarism and criticism over her comments about antisemitism on campus.
In a letter announcing her resignation, she said it was in the "best interests" of the university for her to go. "It has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor," she said.
"This is not a decision I came to easily. Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words," Dr Gay wrote, adding that her resignation would allow Harvard to "focus on the institution rather than any individual".
She said she had been subjected to personal threats and "racial animus".
The 53-year-old served as president for six months and was the first black person, and the second woman, to be appointed to lead the Ivy League university. Her tenure was the shortest in its 388-year history.
Harvard is one of several universities in the US accused of failing to protect its Jewish students following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October. Jewish groups have reported an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents in the US since the conflict began.
During a tense congressional hearing last month, Dr Gay said calls for the killing of Jews were abhorrent. She added, however, that it would depend on the context whether such comments would constitute a violation of Harvard's code of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.
That comment prompted a widespread backlash and she later apologised in an interview with the university's student newspaper. "When words amplify distress and pain, I don't know how you could feel anything but regret," Dr Gay said.
Dozens of politicians and some high-profile alumni called for her to step down over the comments. But nearly 700 staff members rallied behind her in a letter and the university said she would keep her job despite the controversy.
But since then US media outlets have unearthed several instances of alleged plagiarism in her academic record. Harvard's board investigated the allegations last month, and found two published papers that required additional citation.
The board, however, said that she did not violate standards for research misconduct.
More claims that Dr Gay had failed to properly cite academic sources emerged just hours before she resigned on Tuesday and were published anonymously in the conservative Washington Free Beacon newspaper.
The university's 11-member governing body, the Harvard Corporation, said in a statement that Dr Gay would resume her faculty position after resigning.
"While President Gay has acknowledged missteps and has taken responsibility for them, it is also true that she has shown remarkable resilience in the face of deeply personal and sustained attacks," it said.
The Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance welcomed her resignation, saying that as president, Dr Gay "tacitly encouraged those who sought to spread hate at Harvard, where many Jews no longer feel safe to study, identify and fully participate in the Harvard community".
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, meanwhile, condemned the resignation and called it "an assault on the health, strength, and future of diversity, equity, and inclusion".
Dr Gay is the second university official to resign following the 5 December congressional hearing.
Former University of Pennsylvania president Elizabeth Magill resigned just days later after an angry backlash. A donor also withdrew $100m (£80m) in protest over her comments. (With inputs from BBC)
