(Daily Mail) Harvard University’s embattled president has been hit with a further six accusations of plagiarism, bringing the total number of copying claims to nearly 50.
Claudine Gay has been fending off allegations of plagiarism for the past six weeks, which arose when her stumbling response to the October 7 Hamas terror attack put her in the spotlight.
Gay’s academic record has been pored over – and now multiple examples of alleged plagiarism have emerged from her academic writing.
On December 12, Harvard said she had been investigated and cleared, with two papers requiring ‘clarification’ and additional citations.
Gay’s critics are now calling the inquiry that cleared her a ‘sham’, saying it was done with haste and was not sufficiently thorough.
Congress has since opened an inquiry into the allegations, and some students are complaining that they would be punished for similar academic practices.
Of Gay’s 17 published academic works, seven had been found to contain alleged examples of plagiarism.
On Monday, that total rose to eight – with another piece of her writing allegedly found to have duplications.
Of Claudine Gay’s 17 published academic works, seven have been accused of plagiarism – but the new charges now have hit another piece of her writing
Gay, in a 2001 article, is accused of using the work of political science professor David Canon (pictured), who teaches at the University of Wisconsin
The 2001 article in question is accused of plagiarizing nearly half a page of material from another scholar, David Canon of the University of Wisconsin, reports Free Beacon.
In one example, Gay in ‘The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California. Public Policy Institute of California’, in 2001, wrote: ‘The central parts of the measure are Section 2 and Section 5. Section 2 reiterates the guarantees of the 15th amendment, prohibiting any state or political subdivision from adopting voting practices that “deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” Section 5, imposed only on “covered” jurisdictions with a history of past discrimination, requires Justice Department preclearance of changes in any electoral process or mechanism.’
Canon had written in his work, ‘Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequence’: ‘The central parts of the VRA are Section 2 and Section 5. The former prohibits any state or political subdivision from imposing a voting practice that will “deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” The latter was imposed only on “covered” jurisdictions with a history of past discrimination, which must submit changes in any electoral process or mechanism to the federal government for approval.’
Gay is also accused of lifting chunks of text from another academic, Gary King.
King wrote: ‘The posterior distribution of each of the precinct parameters within the bounds indicated by its tomography line is derived by the slice it cuts out of the bivariate distribution of all lines.’
Gay, in 2001, wrote: ‘The posterior distribution of each of the precinct parameters for precinct i is derived by the slice it’s tomography line cuts out of this bivariate distribution.’
Gay’s alleged plagiarism of David Canon’s work seen here in bold font
Gay’s alleged plagiarism of David Canon’s work seen here in bold font
Gay’s alleged plagiarism of Gary King’s work seen here in bold font
Gay’s alleged plagiarism of Franklin Gilliam’s work seen here in bold font
Gay’s alleged plagiarism of Franklin Gilliam’s work seen here in bold font
Gay’s alleged plagiarism of Franklin Gilliam’s work seen here in bold font
The first complaint was made in December, containing nearly 40 allegations of plagiarism by Gay that a whistleblower provided to the university’s Research Integrity Office.
The examples spanned seven publications authored by Gay and included missing quotation marks or entire paragraphs lifted from other sources.
They range from missing quotation marks around a few phrases or sentences to entire paragraphs lifted verbatim.
Some of the academics she was accused of plagiarizing said it was inconsequential, and argued that there were limited ways of expressing certain technical concepts.
Canon told the Free Beacon he was not concerned about the allegations she copied his work.
‘I am not at all concerned about the passages,’ he said. ‘This isn’t even close to an example of academic plagiarism.’
Others said that she was cleared by the Harvard Corporation – which runs the university – too quickly. A plagiarism inquiry will usually take six to 12 months, the Free Beacon reported – but this was completed in just over one month.
‘The board’s review of Gay’s work was too brief to inspire confidence,’ the whistleblower’s complaint states. ‘So we now know for certain that the board’s investigation was a sham.’
Billionaire financier Bill Ackman, who has been among Gay’s most strident critics, agreed and said that there must be a probe into the Harvard Corporation board.
Ackman, who graduated from Harvard and in 2014 donated $26 million to the university, said that the Board of Overseers – made up of Harvard alumni – must now investigate the 12-person Harvard Corporation, which cleared Gay.
Ackman tweeted that it ‘appears that the Board’s ‘investigation’ of Gay’s plagiarism was pretextual, and Harvard’s mandated procedures were not followed in conducting the investigation.’
He added: ‘Further, the Board allegedly sought to out the whistleblower and pursue damages against him or her in direct violation of Harvard’s own policies against retribution.
‘I am sorry to say this, but in the event that any of the above is true, which looks increasingly likely, this is a scandal and a stain on the reputation of Harvard that goes far beyond President Gay.
‘An immediate investigation must be launched of the Corporation Board by unimpeachable members of the Harvard Board of Overseers, with the assistance of independent counsel who are unaffiliated with the University and the Corporation Board members to determine if, in fact, Harvard’s own whistleblower protection policies have been violated, and the other alleged governance and investigative failures are true.’
And others who Gay is accused of plagiarizing, such Dr. Carol Swain, have been adamant that Gay is unfit for the role.
Swain said Gay had to be fired.
Dr. Carol Swain claims Harvard won’t condemn president Claudine Gay because she ‘is the product of an elite system that holds minorities of high pedigree to a lower standard’
Harvard launched a probe into claims Gay plagiarized some of her academic work in October – months before the accusations publicly emerged
‘I have some free unsolicited advice for Harvard University,’ Swain wrote on X.
‘1. Stop listening to the apologists for plagiarism.
‘2. Fire Claudine Gay posthaste. She can be relieved of duties until the terms are negotiated.’
Swain – who wrote a scathing essay for the Wall Street Journal accusing Gay of being given special treatment as a ‘high pedigree minority’ – said the corporation was misguided.
‘Stop listening to the racist mob of whites and blacks who cry racism while being among the worst offenders,’ said Swain.
‘Hire the best man or woman who can steer the university back towards sanity. Appeasing the Marxist identity politics mob should not be a consideration. The person for the job might be a middle to older age white Jewish man who believes in classical liberalism.’
Swain also urged Harvard’s leaders to ‘have a sit down conversation with the people who have been harmed by the plagiarism of Gay and the system that protects her.’
She said it was time to ‘recognize that Harvard’s systematic racism and classism have far reaching effects.’
She concluded: ‘Apologize to alumni, students, parents, and donors who have been harmed and embarrassed.’
Swain claims Gay failed to credit parts of her 1993 book – Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress – as well as her 1997 article, titled Women and Blacks in Congress: 1870-1996.
Last week, Gay submitted two corrections to articles where she was accused of plagiarism, adding ‘quotation marks and citations,’ a university spokesman said.
It was also revealed that Gay is correcting two more instances of inadequate citation following the letter. The school told the Boston Globe they found ‘examples of duplicative language without appropriate attribution’ in her 1997 PhD dissertation.
‘President Gay will update her dissertation correcting these instances of inadequate citation.’
Bill Ackman on Monday said there needed to be a comprehensive inquiry
