(NewsNation) — More than 700 Harvard faculty members have signed a letter urging the university’s governing body to resist calls to remove President Claudine Gay, who is under fire for what many perceived as not denouncing genocide when grilled by Congress over antisemitism.

History professor Alison Frank Johnson, who signed the letter, says it was not a full-throated support of Gay, but rather support for “university autonomy” in making a decision about whether to fire Gay.

“The letter we wrote, rather than saying we stand resolutely behind the words that President Gay spoke at her congressional hearing, was a letter that said we hope that the corporation will not be unduly influenced by those in the political world who are trying to put a finger on the scales when they make their decision about the president,” Johnson said Monday on “CUOMO.”

Harvard’s trustees are holding meetings amid growing calls from lawmakers and the public for Gay to step down following testimony she gave to Congress last week during a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing.

Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth testified about antisemitism on campus.

Gay apologized for her responses after the hearing.

“I am sorry,” Gay told student newspaper The Harvard Crimson. “Words matter.”

The letter signed by faculty urges the Harvard Corporation, the school’s governing body, to “resist political pressures that are at odds with Harvard’s commitment to academic freedom, including calls for the removal of President Claudine Gay.”

The calls for Gay’s resignation come after Magill resigned as university president. All three university leaders faced hours of intense questioning during the House committee hearing.

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik repeatedly asked the administrators whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” went against their school policy and conduct.

Magill answered, “If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment, yes.”

Pressed further, Magill told Stefanik, “It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman.”

Gay and Kornbluth gave similar responses to Stefanik.

“I think that the questions in the context in which they were being asked over the course of the five hours of hearings actually were not that individual question, which should have been easy to answer, but that question in the context of other questions that proceeded … and I can only assume it confused her,” Johnson said of Gay’s responses.

The Harvard Crimson reported Sunday that the Harvard Corporation is expected to decide whether to make a public statement in support of Gay.

Harvard alumnus and professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz says the decision should be easy.

“She must be fired or resign,” he said Monday on “CUOMO.” “The reason that president should be forced to resign is because she’s not telling us the truth about Harvard. She says, and I quote, ‘We embrace a commitment to free expression.’ No, President Gay has never made a commitment to free expression. It’s been the opposite. She’s been part of cancel culture. She’s been part censorship. She’s been part of DEI bureaucracy.”

NewsNation reporters Elina Shirazi and Elizabeth Prann contributed to this report.