A former Vanderbilt University professor who accused Harvard president Claudine Gay of plagiarizing her work has called for the university to fire Gay ‘posthaste.’
Gay, who only took up the role in July, has found herself in a deeply uncomfortable spotlight following the October 7 Hamas terror attack. She was seen as slow to condemn students justifying the attack, and on December 5 made a disastrous appearance before Congress, equivocating over whether calling for the genocide of Jews was hate speech.
Her academic record has been pored over, and critics have found several instances where she failed to properly cite her sources. Congress is now investigating the allegations, as well as looking into antisemitism on campuses nationwide.
Amid a firestorm of plagiarism accusations, Harvard last week said she was submitting amendments to two texts.
But one of the people she is accused of plagiarizing – Dr. Carol Swain – has been adamant that Gay is unfit for the role.
On Thursday, 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’. On Thursday she called for Gay to be fired
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.’
The Harvard Corporation, which runs the university, said last week they had reviewed the allegations of plagiarism, and retained faith in Gay.
But 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.
She wrote in The Wall Street Journal: ‘Harvard can’t condemn Ms. Gay because she is the product of an elite system that holds minorities of high pedigree to a lower standard. This harms academia as a whole, and it demeans Americans, of all races, who had to work for everything they earned.’
Swain, a right-wing political commentator, addressed other authors who were allegedly plagiarized by Gay, but failed to condemn her, describing the missed sourcing to a few harmless inadequate citations.
‘Ms. Gay had no problem riding on the coattails of people whose work she used without proper attribution. Many of those whose work she pilfered aren’t as incensed as I am. They are elites who have benefited from a system that protects its own,’ the political scientist said.
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
Trucks calling for Gay to be fired have appeared outside Harvard’s campus
Gay has also been accused of copying two paragraphs from work by then-Harvard scholars D. Stephen Voss and Bradley Palmquist. One paragraph is nearly identical except for a few words.
But Voss, who now teaches at the University of Kentucky, told The Crimson that while Gay ‘technically plagiarized,’ it is ‘minor-to-inconsequential.’
Harvard professor Lawrence Lobo, another scholar allegedly plagiarized by Gay, similarly told the Boston Globe: ‘I find myself unconcerned about these claims as our work was explicitly acknowledged.’
Swain went even further, repeating critics’ claims that Gay’s academic work is far from impressive and doesn’t stand up to the standards that should be held for the president of Harvard.
The scholar added: ‘Even aside from the documented instances of plagiarism, Ms. Gay’s work wouldn’t normally have earned tenure in the Ivy League. Tenure at a top-tier institution normally demands ground-breaking originality; her work displays none.
‘In a world where the privilege of diversity is king, Ms. Gay was able to parlay mediocre research into tenure and administrative advancement at what was once considered a world-class university.’
Gay has denied the accusations of plagiarism.
Harvard President Claudine Gay at the congressional hearing on antisemitism on campus
The university investigated the plagiarism allegations, and, on December 15, said corrections had been submitted.
The corrections were made to a 2017 article titled ‘A Room for One’s Own? The Partisan Allocation of Affordable Housing,’ in the Urban Affairs Review.
A 2001 article titled ‘The Effect of Black Congressional Representation on Political Participation’ in the American Political Science Review was also amended.
Jonathan Swain, a spokesman for the university, did not address the other articles that journalist Christopher Rufo found.
Harvard launched a probe into claims that Gay plagiarized some of her academic work in October – months before the accusations publicly emerged, the Ivy League has revealed.
The university’s board issued a statement on Tuesday announcing Gay will remain in her post despite calls for her resignation following her disastrous congressional testimony on anti-Semitism on campus and allegations of plagiarism.
The board of directors said: ‘The University became aware in late October of allegations regarding three articles. At President Gay’s request, the Fellows promptly initiated an independent review by distinguished political scientists and conducted a review of her published work.
‘On December 9, the Fellows reviewed the results, which revealed a few instances of inadequate citation. While the analysis found no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct, President Gay is proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications.’
While the board says they found no violation of the school’s policies in Gay’s work, The Harvard Crimson, which reviewed the examples of alleged plagiarism, landed at a different conclusion.
Claudine Gay is seen on December 5, testifying in front of Congress about campus antisemitism. On Friday, the university said two of her articles had been amended following allegations of plagiarism
Demonstrators are seen in Harvard on October 14. Gay was criticized for being slow to condemn student justification of Hamas’ terror attacks
Students protesting in support of Palestine are pictured by Columbia University on November 15
The school’s paper wrote that some of Gay’s writings ‘appear to violate Harvard’s current policies around plagiarism and academic integrity.’
It comes after the Washington Free Beacon and right-wing bloggers Rufo and Christopher Brunet claimed Gay plagiarized parts of four academic works, including her 1994 Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard, titled ‘Taking Charge: Black Electoral Success and the Redefinition of American Politics.’
Billionaire Bill Ackman amplified the allegations as part of his campaign to oust Gay from his alma mater’s top job.
Gay defended her work telling The Boston Globe: ‘I stand by the integrity of my scholarship. Throughout my career, I have worked to ensure my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards.’
While the bloggers focused their claims on Gay’s dissertation, The Free Beacon also looked at three other works by the scholar: a 1993 essay in the publication Origins and two papers from 2012 and 2017, when Gay was already a Harvard professor.
While some of the claims by the Free Beacon include minor citation issues, the Crimson said others are ‘are more substantial, including some paragraphs and sentences nearly identical to other work and lacking citations.’
Gay was accused of copying two paragraphs from work by then-Harvard scholars D. Stephen Voss and Bradley Palmquist. One paragraph is nearly identical except for a few words
However, Gay did not use any quotation marks or in-text citations – Voss and Palmquist are not cited anywhere in her dissertation
D. Stephen Voss, who now teaches at the University of Kentucky, told The Crimson that while Gay ‘technically plagiarized,’ it is ‘minor-to-inconsequential’
The student publication notes Harvard’s rule on what constitutes plagiarism says when copying language ‘word for word,’ scholars ‘must give credit to the author of the source material, either by placing the source material in quotation marks and providing a clear citation, or by paraphrasing the source material and providing a clear citation.’
Gay was accused of copying two paragraphs from work by then-Harvard scholars D. Stephen Voss and Bradley Palmquist.
One paragraph is nearly identical except for a few words.
However, Gay did not use any quotation marks or in-text citations – Voss and Palmquist are not cited anywhere in her dissertation.
It’s unclear whether the same rules applied when Gay turned in her dissertation in 1997.
But Voss, who now teaches at the University of Kentucky, told The Crimson that while Gay ‘technically plagiarized,’ it is ‘minor-to-inconsequential.’
He said: ‘This doesn’t at all look sneaky… It looks like maybe she just didn’t have a sense of what we normally tell students they’re supposed to do and not do.’
Harvard professor Lawrence Lobo, one of those allegedly plagiarized by Gay, similarly told the Boston Globe: ‘I find myself unconcerned about these claims as our work was explicitly acknowledged.’