Former Harvard President Claudine Gay has resigned amid attacks on her character and intelligence. She hopes her departure will thwart efforts to exploit her presidency to undermine Harvard's ideals. Gay admits to making mistakes in responding to certain issues and acknowledges citation errors in her academic writings. Despite the scrutiny, she stands by her work, which focuses on minority office holding in American politics and its impact on democracy. She laments the attacks on her scholarship and highlights the broader impact on truth and the dangers of extreme voices in our culture. Gay emphasizes the importance of universities as independent venues where courage and reason unite to advance truth. She plans to continue advocating for access and opportunity and urges skepticism of extreme voices.