Since Ms. Clemmons’s accusation, M.I.T., where Mr. Díaz is a writing professor, has begun looking into allegations of sexual misconduct, according to The Associated Press.

The board’s most recent previous chairman, the Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, has resumed the role on an interim basis. Like Mr. Díaz, who is himself a Pulitzer Prize winner for his best-selling first novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” Mr. Robinson was elected to the board in 2010.

Others on the board include Stephen Engelberg, editor in chief of ProPublica; Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University; and Nancy Barnes, editor of The Houston Chronicle.

The body’s most high-profile duty is presiding over the judging process by which Pulitzer Prizes are awarded to the year’s best works of reporting, photography, fiction, history, poetry, music and drama.