Embattled Harvard University President Claudine Gay responded Monday to mounting allegations of plagiarism, saying she stands by her work.
Journalist Christopher F. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, published a report on Sunday outlining what he indicated to be three instances of Gay plagiarizing, per Harvard standards, in the dissertation, “Taking Charge: Black Electoral Success and the Redefinition of American Policies.”
Notably, Gay is already facing mounting pressure to be removed since her shocking testimony during a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism in colleges and universities.
“I stand by the integrity of my scholarship,” Gay told the Boston Globe, regarding the plagiarism allegations. “Throughout my career, I have worked to ensure my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards.”
In addition to other questionable instances, Gay is accused of lifting “nearly verbatim” work from Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam in their paper called “Race, Sociopolitical Participation, and Black Empowerment.”
Rufo cited Harvard’s own policy on paraphrasing and plagiarism to underscore his point: “When you paraphrase, your task is to distill the source’s ideas in your own words,” the guidelines state. “It’s not enough to change a few words here and there and leave the rest; instead, you must completely restate the ideas in the passage in your own words. If your own language is too close to the original, then you are plagiarizing, even if you do provide a citation.”
First, Gay lifts an entire paragraph nearly verbatim from a paper by Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam’s, while passing it off as her own paraphrase and language.
This is a direct violation of Harvard's policy: "When you paraphrase, your task is to distill the source’s ideas… pic.twitter.com/t6enHp3dN9
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) December 10, 2023
Billionaire Bill Ackman, a Harvard alum, said a university faculty member called Rufo’s allegations “credible.”
“I asked a senior member of the [Harvard] faculty to examine the below allegations of plagiarism against President Gay,” Ackman posted to X. “The faculty member found them to be credible.”
I asked a senior member of the @Harvard faculty to examine the below allegations of plagiarism against President Gay.
The faculty member found them to be credible. https://t.co/Y7LdeuxODR
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) December 11, 2023
Since the report, The National Association of Scholars has come out calling for Gay’s removal as president. “The esteemed group notes Gay’s ‘shoddy professional work,’ ‘record of plagiarism,’ and ‘promotion of racist policies,'” Rufo posted. “Momentum is building.”
BREAKING: The National Association of Scholars calls on Harvard to remove Claudine Gay as president of the university. The esteemed group notes Gay's "shoddy professional work," "record of plagiarism," and "promotion of racist policies." Momentum is building. pic.twitter.com/F3Nz6hUex6
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) December 11, 2023
Further, reports of Gay’s alleged plagiarism have only compounded:
BREAKING: The Free Beacon's @aaronsibarium has revealed that Harvard president Claudine Gay plagiarized multiple sections of at least three additional publications between 1993 and 2017, according to Harvard's own standard on academic integrity.https://t.co/GRBRvWYWcn
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) December 11, 2023
Since the October 7 Hamas terror attacks against Israel, Gay has been under fire for her response to Harvard students’ pro-Hamas protesting, which has at times included calls for genocide of Jews in Israel.
During a Congressional hearing last week, Gay was directly asked about whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s codes of conduct, and the president responded that it depends “on the context.” She added that calling for genocide is “at odds with the values of Harvard” and that when that kind of “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.”
Related: ‘A New Low’: SNL Wrecked For Skit Mocking Elise Stefanik In College Anti-Semitism Hearing