Harvard’s President Rocked With A Fresh Slew Of Plagiarism Allegations
Brandon Poulter on December 19, 2023
More allegations of plagiarism against Harvard President Claudine Gay emerged Tuesday in a complaint filed with the university.
Several sources accused Gay of plagiarism following a House Education Committee hearing on Dec. 5, and the Harvard Corporation, the university’s highest governing board, admitted on Dec. 12 that they had known of the plagiarism accusations since late October. The new complaint filed lists 39 examples of plagiarism from Gay despite the Harvard Corporation’s review of Gay’s academic record revealing only “a few instances of inadequate citation.”
The total number of Gay’s papers she is accused of plagiarizing has now risen to seven following this newest round of accusations, according to The Washington Free Beacon. The complaint lists 39 examples of plagiarism with over 40 specific instances of alleged plagiarism.
“Know that it is impossible that your office has already reviewed the entirety of these materials as many examples below have not been previously reported or submitted to Harvard. Harvard received allegations from the New York Post in late October, but these materials involve more articles and passages of text from her academic work,” the complaint reads.
“As you examine whether the materials below show a pattern of plagiarism, keep in mind that Harvard has a detailed guide that explains your standards for plagiarism. That guide reads, ‘When you fail to cite your sources, or when you cite them inadequately, you are plagiarizing, which is taken extremely seriously at Harvard,’” the complaint continues.
Harvard’s research integrity officer reviews all allegations of faculty plagiarism, according to Harvard’s policies. A finding of guilt can result in “suspension” or “termination of employment,” among other things.
The complaint reveals that Gay allegedly plagiarized in the acknowledgements of her dissertation as well.
Questions about Gay’s career arose after her appearance before the House Education Committee hearing where she, alongside University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth, refused to say if calling for the genocide of Jews violated their respective schools’ codes of conduct.
Over 70 representatives called for Gay’s resignation, as well as Magill and Kornbluth, and multiple allegations of plagiarism against Gay followed the hearing.
Throughout Gay’s academic career, she appears to have copied entire paragraphs and cited more than 20 authors without proper attribution. Harvard’ student newspaper also reviewed Gay’s academic works and found that some of her scholarship may have violated Harvard’s plagiarism policies. Gay issued corrections to two articles Friday, involving “quotation marks and citations” to academic articles she has been accused of plagiarizing.
Harvard disciplines for similar violations of their honor code, which prohibits students from turning in work that is “not their own.” The university’s Honor Council heard 138 cases of “academic integrity cases” during the 2020-2021 academic year and nearly 100 of them resulted in an “academic dishonesty violation,” forcing 27 students to withdraw from the university.
Of the nearly 100 “academic integrity cases” in the 2020-2021 school year, there were 47 reported plagiarism violations.
Harvard and Gay did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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