(THE CONVERSATION) Harvard University President Claudine Gayresigned on Jan. 2, 2024, less than one month after University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill stepped down. They called it quits amid uproar among conservative lawmakers and several major donors regarding what they saw as Gay's and Magill's underwhelming responses to antisemitism on their campuses. In Gay's case, there were also accusation of plagiarism.

Some members of the public have been surprised to see that both Gay and Magill remain employed by their universities as professors and researchers. Ray Gibney, a management scholar who studies labor relations, explains why university presidents with tenure can remain on faculty and resume their teaching jobs after they leave or lose their administrative positions.