When Claudine Gay was pushed out of her position as president of Harvard University. Some people blamed her forced resignation on racism; others claimed that under Doctor Gay, Havard became a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred or her plagiarism,
Dr. Gay was pushed out because her academic and management mistakes and the school’s cover-up attempts cost the school over $1 Billion. The school’s attempt to cover up MS. Gay’s academic and management mistakes cost the school over $1 Billion, and a few $hundred million more may be gone soon.
Now that she’s resigned, one would think the school’s troubles were over—not so fast.
In Dec. 2022, the New York Post revealed they had told Harvard about the allegations of plagiarism in Gay’s work two months earlier and had been met with threatening letters from an attorney.
The Post began investigating Gay’s potential plagiarism weeks before her disastrous Dec. 5 House testimony on antisemitism, reaching out to Harvard on Oct. 24 for comment on dozens of suspect passages.
The school’s response was to stall for days, then threaten us: The first we heard back was an Oct. 27 letter from elite lawyer Thomas Clare of the Virginia firm Clare-Locke — a 15-page missive identifying him as defamation counsel for the university and Gay; the document quoted several profs who’d apparently been plagiarized but saw no harm.
Sure, they dent the story and hint that they will file a defamation lawsuit if they run the story. Oh, and by the way, the professors who worked for Harvard said there was no problem that Gay stole their work. I am sure it had nothing to do with pressure from the top.
Even if she didn’t drink too much, Claudine Gay had probably had a massive headache on New Year’s Day. That’s because, on Jan. 1, the Washington Free Beacon published six more claims of plagiarism. Depending on the particular news media, the six new claims bring her plagiarism total to between 50 and 56 claims. That, my friends, can be classified as a shitload.
Ms Gay’s serial plagiarism was finally being evaluated outside the soundproof hallowed hall of Harvard. The Claudine Gay plagiarism coverage in the news led to an investigation of Harvard by The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA).
ACTA sent their findings about the Claudine Gay/Harvard scandal to (NECHE) in New England. Commission of Higher Education. The ACTA document outlined a dozen instances of Harvard breaking important rules, claiming they mishandled the Gay scandal.
On behalf of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), I write to submit a formal complaint regarding one of your affiliated institutions, Harvard University, pursuant to your formal complaint process. We call on the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) to exercise its responsibilities under the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. ch. 28 § 1001 et seq.) and investigate Harvard University for potential non-compliance with NECHE’s Standards for Accreditation 4 (4.44) and 9 (9.1, 9.2, 9.6, and 9.12).1 As you are aware, Harvard’s compliance with NECHE’s standards is necessary for continued eligibility to receive funding under federal student loan programs.
UH-OH lose federal funding? I thought that couldn’t happen to a liberal school.
The people defending Gay are ignoring the massive hypocrisy of how Ms.Gay was treated for her plagiarism as compared to how a student is treated. The American Conservative explains:
Longstanding academic conventions treat plagiarism as a cardinal sin of scholarship, and Harvard is no exception. The university’s rules for students take a strict stance against what it calls “mosaic plagiarism,” or the copying of “bits and pieces from a source…changing a few words here and there without either adequately paraphrasing or quoting directly.” The practice almost perfectly describes the allegations against Gay, who appears to have mosaic-plagiarized several paragraph-length passages from other authors. Students at Harvard face severe consequences for similar behavior, including year-long suspensions from classes or even expulsion from the university. In 2020, the university suspended 27 students and placed another 56 on academic probation for honor code violations, with plagiarism cases comprising the second most common offense after cheating on exams.
Here’s the bottom line: if NECHE determines that Harvard did not meet its standards, the school will lose hundreds of millions. Of dollars, they would have received from the federal student loan programs. That cash rests on the estimated $1 billion of private donations Harvard lost.
Plagiarism is a serious crime; it’s not just copying someone else’s words without giving credit. It’s like going into someone’s head and stealing their thoughts and ideas. If they lose federal funding, Claudine Gay’s plagiarism may teach Harvard a vital lesson: anyone caught stealing. Someone else’s thoughts or ideas should receive the same punishment, be they a student, a professor, or even the school’s president.
Per Harvard’s Guide For Using Sources
Students who, for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including a requirement to withdraw from the College
If Harvard applied those rules fairly to both students and educators, Claudine Gay (and I bet a few others) are overdue for thę real punishment. as described in the Harvard. Guide.
{Reposted from The Lid}
