Harvard alum feels a loss
Ruthzee Louijeune remembers how that day felt in Harvard Yard.
The day last summer when she was watching a fellow Haitian American woman get sworn in as president of Harvard.
Louijeune — Boston’s recently elected City Council president — was actually a participant in the procession, joining other local elected officials.
“I remember participating in her inauguration and just having such tremendous pride and excitement about what that could mean for Black women, for Haitian American women, and what it could mean for Harvard — what it could mean about Harvard and its future.”
That moment was personal for Louijeune, a daughter of immigrants who holds two graduate degrees — in law and government — from Harvard.
As everyone knows by now, the moment of joy was short-lived. Gay stepped down earlier this month, after the shortest tenure in Harvard’s nearly 400-year history.
Depending on the version of events you believe, Gay was rightfully dumped after a disastrous appearance before Congress and in the wake of a plagiarism scandal that would not die, or she was abandoned by bosses who should have stood by her in the midst of disingenuous right-wing attacks on her academic record and character.
Louijeune, 37, demurred on the question of whether Gay had been treated fairly. But in her downfall, she sees a familiar narrative for Black women in positions of leadership. Opponents are always lurking, and support can be fleeting — especially when you need it most.
“I think we’re going to have time to debate and discuss what’s happening on campuses right now,” Louijeune said. “How do we make our students feel safe, how do we prevent our institutions from becoming part of a political chessboard? What I know now is I wish her well and I hope that institutions in the future do a better job of protecting both their leaders and their students.”
Louijeune is barely two weeks into her tenure as City Council president, and her second term as a city councilor. She takes over the helm of what had become a notoriously fractious body in its last term. They didn’t pass much legislation or have much of an impact on the city, but their battles — often conducted over social media — made for great theater. And lousy governance.
But the new council has shed some of the most energetic combatants who held sway last year and Louijeune herself is likely to be a voice of calm and stability. When the council couldn’t pass a legally mandated redistricting map last year, she was the one who imposed order and got it done in an impressive display of leadership.
She’s the third Black woman to lead the body, following Andrea Campbell and Kim Janey. But she isn’t kidding herself that the task will be an easy one.
“We’re really still scratching the surface when it comes to the work of equity, which is the work of normalizing what our halls of power, our schools and academic institutions look like,” Louijeune said. “Just because there have been two (before her) doesn’t mean it will be a cakewalk for the third and fourth.”
Gay’s fall was complicated, and the debate over whether she was wronged won’t end any time soon. There is a consensus that she committed plagiarism to some degree, and a growing sense that Harvard has to get better at managing its many crises and ensuring the safety, writ large, of its student body.
But below the surface, for people like Ruthzee Louijeune, there’s a sense of lost opportunity, too.
“She still made history,” Louijeune insisted. “She’s still a source of pride for the Haitian community. There is legacy even in the attempt.”
The powers that be at Harvard are preparing to launch a search for the next president.
Meanwhile, those who cheered Gay’s appointment as a huge step forward hope her demise doesn’t become an excuse to turn back.
“We all know Harvard is looked at as the example of so many things,” Louijeune said. “And hopefully Harvard can continue to be the example to challenge what we traditionally have seen leadership look like and be in this country.”