plagiarism? what we are learning today from harvard insiders. plus, the deadly airport runway inferno. two lanes collide, five on one jet nearly killed, 400 escaped alive. how did the planes and up on the runway in the first place? and the senior member of hamas assassinated at an explosion in beirut. is the situation in the middle east about to get even worse? happy new year, and welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper, and we start out with raking news. harvard university s claudine gay is stepping down as president, resigning after just about six months on the job. the student journalist who broke the story of her stepping down for the harvard crimson newspaper noted that this is the shortest presidential tenure in harvard s august history. it has been quite a tumultuous month for the now former present. when asked for calling for the genocide of would violate harvard campuses code of conduct. yes or no. it can be, depending on the context. from that, to multiple allega
subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus. cnn s matt egan starts off coverage on her resignation. what more do we know about the seemingly sudden move, considering harvard edits board have been publicly standing behind dr. gay for the past month? jake, clearly this is a very difficult moment for one of the most prestigious universities on the planet. they have now decided to accept the resignation of claudine gay , the first black president in harvard s nearly 400 year history, and just the second woman to ever lead this university. as you noted, it was just three weeks ago that the school s top board, they voiced their unanimous support for gay and now they are accepting a letter of resignation. in a statement, they said that gay has shown remarkable resilience in the face of deeply personal and sustained