Six New Charges Lodged against Claudine Gay

(LibertyInsider.org) – Harvard University’s now-former President, Claudine Gay, is facing six additional allegations of plagiarism, according to an additional complaint filed on January 1. This brings the total number of charges against the academic administrator, which span nearly half of her scholarly publications over the past 25 years, to 50.

The Washington Free Beacon obtained and confirmed the validity of the original December 2023 complaint and an updated January 2024 filing submitted to Harvard’s Research Integrity Office by an unnamed professor from another university. The charges highlight plagiarism in multiple works written throughout her career.

The first complaint filed in December contains multiple examples where Gay copied entire sentences and paragraphs from outside works without proper citation. The updated January filing builds on these accusations, accusing her of lifting almost a full page verbatim from University of Wisconsin professor David Canon in a 2001 article without attribution. She also stands accused of stealing footnotes and sentences from her dissertation advisor.

Claudine Gay first assumed the role of president at Harvard in July 2023. Controversy over her suitability for the role exploded after she testified at a December 5th congressional hearing on anti-Semitism. At the time, Gay declined to definitively state whether genocidal calls for violence against Jewish individuals would contravene Harvard’s standards of conduct.

Gay’s reluctance to condemn such hate triggered widespread criticism. Many grew concerned about whether she could effectively protect Jewish students from harm at a time when anti-Semitic hate was on the rise due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Days later, the first charges of plagiarism rolled in.

Harvard responded to the controversies surrounding Claudine Gay in a statement on December 12. At the time, they stood by her, calling her “the right leader to help [the] community heal.” But shortly after the new year, something appeared to change.

Gay officially resigned as Harvard’s president on January 2nd. She concluded that stepping down was in Harvard’s best interest, and would allow the university to better prioritize institutional concerns.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik responded to Gay’s resignation on Twitter shortly afterward. She celebrated it as a success, labeling the former president morally bankrupt and vowing to keep “exposing the rot.”

Stefanik is, in a sense, at least indirectly responsible for Gay’s resignation. As conference chair, it was she who prompted Gay’s controversial comments about anti-Semitism during the December 5 congressional hearing. Her line of questioning is widely seen as the flashpoint.

Copyright 2024, LibertyInsider.org