Washington | The future of Harvard University’s president, Claudine Gay, was on the line on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) as the school’s governing body met amid calls for her removal after the widely criticised comments she made last week about antisemitism on campus.

As donors ratcheted up a pressure campaign to oust Ms Gay, about 700 members of Harvard’s faculty came to her defence in several open letters. One, from African-American faculty members, called the attacks on the president “specious and politically motivated”.