Harvard University on Tuesday received a complaint outlining over 40 allegations of plagiarism against its embattled president, Claudine Gay. The document paints a picture of a pattern of misconduct more extensive than has been previously reported and puts the Harvard Corporation, the university’s governing body—which said it initiated an “independent review” of Gay’s scholarship and issued a statement of support for her leadership—back in the spotlight.
The new allegations, which were submitted to Harvard’s research integrity officer, Stacey Springs, include the examples reported by the Washington Free Beacon and other outlets, as well as dozens of additional cases in which Gay quoted or paraphrased authors without proper attribution, according to a copy of the complaint reviewed by the Free Beacon. They range from missing quotation marks around a few phrases or sentences to entire paragraphs lifted verbatim.
The full list of examples spans seven of Gay’s publications—two more than previously reported—which comprise almost half of her scholarly output.
[My, my, my … that’s a lot of missing commas and quote marks. How long before enterprising reporters start running the rest of Gay’s “scholarly output” through plagiarism-finding software? Did Gay ever have an original thought? Harvard chose to make plagiarism an academic misdemeanor rather than a capital offense last week. How long can they sustain that position? — Ed]
Join the conversation as a VIP Member