Mayor Michelle Wu is not going to be changing former Harvard President Claudine Gay, she acknowledged on WCVB’s On the Record phase aired Sunday, chatting with the heavily-besieged president’s resignation from her alma mater.
“I have absolutely no plans to leave this amazing job that I have,” Wu stated, laughing intermittently following a query about her curiosity in Gay’s former job. “This is a very important decision though, that the university is going to make in a time of tremendous stress and challenge for academia overall.”
Wu, who holds two levels from Harvard, stated she is “very saddened” by the state of affairs and stated town will “support wherever we can” because the college and others fall into the crosshairs in the course of the subsequent yr and election cycle.
Gay resigned in early January, following controversy over her feedback and actions concerning antisemitism on campus and questions raised about potential plagiarism in her previous educational work.
Asked if Gay was within the incorrect, Wu stated the president “made her decision at this point,” however she believes there was a “targeted effort” to take away her linked to who she is and plans to dismantle issues like affirmative motion and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts.
Speaking to extra city-related points, Wu constructed off her State of the City speech final week and referred to as housing the “biggest stress” throughout Boston and the area.
“It’s harder and harder for families to afford to stay here in the communities they built and they love,” Wu stated. “And so we are really trying on all fronts to build more affordable housing, to use city land, and then wherever possible to create the incentives and encouragement so that the market can do its thing and build more housing as well.”
The mayor stated she spoke to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this week concerning the housing manufacturing market and efforts to seek out new areas for inexpensive housing. Since launching a program to incentivize turning workplace areas into housing, Wu stated, builders have began changing eight constructing into 170 housing items.
The metropolis additionally isn’t giving up on lease management, Wu stated.
“It’s absolutely important to do whatever we can to stop displacement while we’re trying to build enough housing to bring rents down,” Wu stated, noting town has despatched laws to the State House and can proceed to advocate for it.
Speaking to the overwhelming migrant disaster in Massachusetts, Wu pointed to town’s interventions in partnership with the state — noting a number of current work authorization clinics — however stated once more there’s a “larger challenge around housing” compounding the difficulty.
The Mayor additionally chimed in on rumors within the final week {that a} new BPS services plan may imply half of colleges may shut.
“There is not way half of our schools are going to close,” she stated, echoing the BPS superintendent’s earlier assertion and calling the reported headline an “extrapolation” or misinterpretation” of the plan.
The district now is aware of, “for the first time ever,” precisely all of infrastructure points within the college buildings, Wu stated, in a manner that can information investments. The metropolis already has $2 billion slated for 10 BPS capital tasks, she added, as a lot as has been executed within the final 40 years.
“There’s lots of reasons that Boston can find to do nothing,” Wu stated of neighborhood pushback to BPS tasks. “I stepped up and asked for this job so that I could help us move forward on issues. That means having hard conversations examining the trade offs, and then very publicly, making decisions together moving forward.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”