The fall wasn't very far. In resigning the presidency of Harvard, a largely ceremonial position that consists mostly of fund raising and representing the school at events including other schools, she remains on the faculty with the same salary as before.
The AP article makes the point that in reality the controversy over Gay's testimony before Congress and her plagiarism over the years didn't count for as much as the fact that she was an activist, female, black liberal, skewered by dark conservative political forces. It also points out that she is Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African American Studies.
Academic positions in the study of government are inevitably intertwined with politics. While it's not true in this case, failed liberal political figures are often kept in academic faculty pools where they are easily transferred back into government service. (See Jennifer Granholm) The reason grad students get PhD.s in government isn't so they can study the minutiae of bureaucracy, it's so they can know something about and have an effect on politics. If they get caught up in political controversy they have made a mistake in judgement.
In the current political climate academia and media are reinforcing their general liberal stance. If Ms. Gay had been fired she wouldn't have needed even a cab ride to her next interview for employment. It's likely that university regents at many schools were hopeful that she would be sent packing and be available for their own institution. By proving her bona-fides she has taken a step forward in her career.
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