Former Harvard lecturer who defended biological sex claims school failed to support her as career crumbled

A former Harvard University lecturer who defended biological sex claimed her career was destroyed and school administrators failed to support her amid the controversy.

"I gave everything to that place,' Carole Hooven told The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan earlier this month. "I had expected that they would (support me)."

Hooven, who previously taught the "Hormones and Behavior" human evolutionary biology course at the university, became an online figure in 2021 after she was asked about pressures on medical school professors to avoid using terms like "male," "female" and "pregnant women."

"The ideology seems to be that biology really isn't as important as how somebody feels about themselves or feels their sex to be," Hooven told Fox News at the time. "The facts are that there are, in fact, two sexes — there are male and female — and those sexes are designated by the kind of gametes we produce."

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Her comments were swiftly condemned by Harvard DEI officer Laura Simone Lewis, who claimed Hooven had committed a "transphobic" attack on "non-cis people within the med system."

Lewis also tweeted that Hooven's opposition to terms such as "pregnant people" was "dangerous."

"Let's be clear: if you respect diverse gender identities & aim to use correct pronouns, then you would know that people with diverse genders/sexes can be pregnant incl Trans men, intersex people & gender nonconforming people,' she wrote.

"Inclusive language like 'pregnant people' demonstrates respect for EVERYONE who has the ability to get pregnant, not just cis women."

Harvard, Hooven and Lewis did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

Hooven suggested that Lewis' public criticism and online backlash pushed her into the greater cultural discourse around gender and eventually led her to leave Harvard.

Her criticism of "inclusive language" in medical schools also led to consequences at the university. Hooven claimed graduate students are scooping up DEI positions with perspectives administrators are afraid to speak out against.

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"A lot of the norms of discourse changed because of DEI influence," she said. 'It was very influential, and I know for a fact that faculty were nervous about p-----g off the people on the DEI task force."

Hooven also suggested that Lewis was emboldened to "get away with" her online comments because of DEI practices and outcry from progressive students.

When she asked Lewis to lay out what she thought was transphobic or harmful to undergraduate students, Hooven said adverse reactions to her grew and she "wanted someone at the department" to defend her.

"This was 2021 and I didn't know everything I know now. I had expected that they would (support me), but nobody knew what to do," Hooven said.

She also admitted that it was "naïve" to believe her professional experiences and glowing reviews would help her weather the storm but was still stunned by the lack of support from fellow staff at Harvard who knew of her positive relationships with students.

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After postgraduates labeled her a "bigot" and refused to act as her teaching assistant, Hooven decided it was time to move on from her role at the Ivy League school.

"There was no evidence provided, and I looked for it, of any racist abuse on Twitter," she said. 'But that was the narrative, that's all you need is just the appearance of something, a narrative."

Hooven also said she holds "no animosity" towards Lewis, stressing, "This happened because DEI is so powerful in the university."

"None of them were willing to do anything," she said. 

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