The prestigious American private university Harvard on Thursday appointed the dean of its main faculty, Claudine Gay, the first black president of the institution, amid a debate in the Supreme Court about affirmative action for students, reports AFP.

The daughter of Haitian immigrants and a professor of African and African American studies, Gay is considered an expert on minority politics.

“Gay is a dedicated teacher and mentor whose courses address topics such as racial and ethnic politics in the United States, African American politics in the post-Civil Rights era, American political behavior, and democratic citizenship,” the university wrote in its announcement. on his website.

A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she also founded and directed the Harvard Initiative on Inequality in America, “an interdisciplinary effort to revitalize teaching and research at Harvard on social and economic inequality,” said Penny Pritzker, who chaired the selection. committee of the new president.

He is currently the dean of the Faculty of Natural and Social Sciences.

His appointment, which followed a process that lasted several months and generated more than 600 applications, was announced as Harvard, which has topped Shanghai’s world university rankings for the past two decades, is at the center of a major debate over affirmative action in the highly conservative US Supreme Court.

On Oct. 31, a court initiated by a neoconservative activist devoted nearly five hours of hearings to the admissions procedures at the nation’s oldest private and public universities, Harvard and North Carolina, that take into account the skin color or ethnic origin of applicants. evaluating your files.

The goal is to correct inequities stemming from the United States’ segregationist past and increase the share of black, Hispanic, and Native American students in higher education, but the policy has always been criticized in conservative circles as opaque and “racist.” reverse”.

The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its decision by the end of June 2023, which will apply to the entire country.

Claudine Gay will take up her position on July 1, 2023.