The president's comments came after the administration froze $2 billion in federal grants for Harvard after the university rejected what it saw as illegal government demands.
The government announced it is freezing more than $2.2 billion, hours after the university refused to make changes it said would "dictate what private universities can teach."
Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned Tuesday amid plagiarism allegations. Experts say improved technology could bring to light more alleged transgressions in past works by other academic leaders.
Jacinda Ardern resigned as New Zealand's prime minister and left Parliament earlier this year, saying that she "no longer had enough in the tank" to continue in politics.
Raquel Coronell Uribe, a history and literature major from Miami, calls the role a "huge" honor: "Even if it took 148 years, I'm thrilled that I get to be in the position to be that first person."
Harvard University says it will stop investing its $41.9 billion endowment in the fossil fuel industry, citing the threat of climate change. Activists have called on the university to do so for years.
In a resignation letter posted to Twitter on Monday, West says the university is suffering from "intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy of deep depths."