Harvard University covered up Claudine Gay plagiarism investigation, report claims
Harvard University allegedly covered up 27 instances in which Claudine Gay, its president, plagiarized or failed to properly cite other academics' work, according to a report from The New York Post.
According to the New York Post, which contacted the university on Oct. 24 after an anonymous source provided the news outlet with two academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals between 2011 and 2017, and another article published in a magazine in 1993, Gay's words appeared to closely resemble the work of other academics, according to the Post.
The outlet asked Harvard about the apparent plagiarism, and its Senior Executive Director of Media Relations and Communications, Jonathan Swain, requested time to review Gay's work. Swain allegedly promised at one point that he would be in touch within the next few days, but the Post claims that it did not hear back from him.
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"And two days later, on Oct. 27, The Post was sent a 15-page letter by Thomas Clare, a high-powered Virginia-based attorney with the firm Clare-Locke who identified himself as defamation counsel for Harvard University and Gay," the Post reported."
"The letter contained comments from academics whose work Gay was alleged to have improperly cited — even though the political scientists’ review could only just have begun," the report continued.
An expert in plagiarism cases, Johnathan Bailey, the head of Plagiarism Now, told the Post that he believes Gay violated some of Harvard's policies on citation.
Harvard University did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.
The Harvard Corporation contended that the independent review concluded that Gay did not violate the university’s standards for research misconduct in the dissertation, “Taking Charge: Black Electoral Success and the Redefinition of American Policies.”
Journalist Christopher F. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and Christopher Brunet had also raised concerns in a Sunday Substack post about potential plagiarism in Gay’s dissertation. The article asserted that Gay lifted “nearly verbatim” from another paper titled “Race, Sociopolitical Participation, and Black Empowerment.”
According to a statement from the Harvard Corporation on Tuesday, Gay had requested corrections to several articles to insert citations and quotation marks. The Corporation learned about the plagiarism allegations in late October, with an independent review determining Saturday that Gay had failed to properly cite her sources for the paper.
The Harvard Corporation contended that the independent review concluded that Gay did not violate the university’s standards for research misconduct.
“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the university’s governing body stated. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”
The Harvard Corporation noted that many have “suffered tremendous damage and pain” following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, and the Corporation announced that it intends to continue supporting Gay.
Harvard is also one of many universities that have prompted concerns from the public regarding its handling of antisemitism on campus. Shortly after Hamas’ onslaught against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,200 people, a majority of them civilians, including 31 Americans, more than 30 student groups signed a letter holding Israel solely responsible for the violence.
Read: Who are the Americans held hostage by Hamas?
In its statement, the university’s governing body cited an apology Gay issued after she refused to clarify during a congressional hearing earlier this month whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates the university’s code of conduct on bullying and harassment. The Harvard University president claimed that determining whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated the university’s policies depended on the context.
“Calls for genocide are despicable and contrary to fundamental human values,” the statement read. “President Gay has apologized for how she handled her congressional testimony and has committed to redoubling the University’s fight against antisemitism.”
The Corporation stated that Harvard champions “open discourse and academic freedom,” adding that it would not tolerate violence against students and classroom disruptions.
“Harvard’s mission is advancing knowledge, research, and discovery that will help address deep societal issues and promote constructive discourse, and we are confident that President Gay will lead Harvard forward toward accomplishing this vital work,” the statement concluded.
In an interview last week with The Crimson student newspaper, Gay said that the reason she did not clarify whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated university policies is because she became “caught up” in what she described as a “combative exchange.”
“What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard and will never go unchallenged.”
“Substantively, I failed to convey what is my truth,” Gay added.
Last Thursday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced an investigation into Harvard and two other universities whose presidents testified at the hearing — University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth.
The Republican-led House committee expressed dissatisfaction with the way the leaders of the three universities responded to concerns about antisemitism. Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said in a statement announcing the investigation that the university presidents’ responses were “absolutely unacceptable.”
"The disgusting targeting and harassment of Jewish students is not limited to these institutions, and other universities should expect investigations as well, as their litany of similar failures has not gone unnoticed,” Foxx said.
Over the weekend, Magill resigned from her position following criticism after she stated during the hearing that whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated university policies depended on the context. Prior to her resignation, one prominent donor stated that he would withdraw a $100 million donation to the school.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
