The embattled Harvard University president has been hit with another six plagiarism allegations, bringing the total number of copying allegations to nearly 50.
Claudine Gay has been defending herself for six weeks against accusations of plagiarism that arose when her stumbling response to the Hamas terror attack on October 7 thrust her into the spotlight.
Gay's academic record has been carefully scrutinized – and now several examples of alleged plagiarism from her academic writings have emerged.
On December 12, Harvard said it had been investigated and cleared, with two papers requiring “clarification” and additional citations.
Critics of Gay are now calling the investigation that cleared her a “sham” and saying it was rushed and not thorough enough.
Congress has since launched an investigation into the allegations, and some students complain that they are being punished for similar academic practices.
Of Gay's 17 published academic papers, seven were found to contain alleged examples of plagiarism.
On Monday, the total rose to eight – with another portion of her letter allegedly found to have been copied.
Of Claudine Gay's 17 published scientific papers, seven have been accused of plagiarism – but the new charges now affect another part of her writing
Gay is accused in a 2001 article 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 scientist, David Canon of the University of Wisconsin, Free Beacon reports.
In one example, Gay in “The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California.” The Public Policy Institute of California wrote in 2001: “The central parts of the measure are Section 2 and Section 5. Section 2 reaffirms the guarantees of the 15th Amendment and prohibits any state or political subdivision from adopting voting practices that “deny or deny.” .”restrict the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on the basis of race or color.” Section 5, which applies only to “covered” jurisdictions where there has been a history of discrimination, requires pre-approval of changes in any electoral process or – mechanism by the Ministry of Justice.”
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 enforcing an electoral practice that is “unfriendly to any citizen of the United States.” United States denies or restricts the right to vote based on 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 stealing parts of texts from another academic, Gary King.
King wrote: “The posterior distribution of each district parameter within the boundaries indicated by its tomographic line is derived from the section which it cuts from the bivariate distribution of all the lines.”
Gay wrote in 2001: “The posterior distribution of each district parameter for district i is given by the slice that its tomographic line intersects from this bivariate distribution.”
Gay's alleged plagiarism of David Canon's work is shown here in bold
Gay's alleged plagiarism of David Canon's work is shown here in bold
Gay's alleged plagiarism of Gary King's work is shown here in bold
Gay's alleged plagiarism of Franklin Gilliam's work is shown here in bold
Gay's alleged plagiarism of Franklin Gilliam's work is shown here in bold
Gay's alleged plagiarism of Franklin Gilliam's work is shown here in bold
The first complaint was filed in December and contained nearly 40 allegations of plagiarism by Gay that a whistleblower submitted to the university's Research Integrity Office.
The examples included seven publications authored by Gay and included missing quotation marks or entire paragraphs copied from other sources.
They range from missing quotation marks around a few phrases or sentences to entire paragraphs copied verbatim.
Some of the academics she was accused of plagiarizing said it was inconsequential, arguing that there were only limited ways to express certain technical concepts.
Canon told the Free Beacon he was not concerned about allegations that she copied his work.
“The passages don’t worry me at all,” he said. “This is not even close to an example of academic plagiarism.”
Others said it was released too quickly by the Harvard Corporation, which runs the university. A plagiarism investigation typically takes six to 12 months, Free Beacon reported — but this one was completed in just over a month.
“The committee’s review of Gay’s work was too brief to inspire confidence,” the whistleblower’s complaint states. “We now know for certain that the panel’s investigation was a sham.”
Billionaire financier Bill Ackman, who is among Gay's harshest critics, agreed and said there needs to be an investigation into the Harvard Corporation board.
Ackman, who graduated from Harvard and donated $26 million to the university in 2014, said the board of directors – made up of Harvard alumni – must now investigate the 12-member Harvard Corporation that acquitted Gay.
Ackman tweeted that it “appears that the Board's 'investigation' into Gay's plagiarism was sham and Harvard's prescribed procedures were not followed in conducting the investigation.”
He added: “Furthermore, the board allegedly attempted to expel the whistleblower and seek damages against him or her, in direct violation of Harvard's own policies against retaliation.”
“I'm sorry to say, but if any of the above are true, as seems increasingly likely, this is a scandal and a stain on Harvard's reputation that goes far beyond President Gay.”
“An immediate investigation of the corporate board by unimpeachable members of the Harvard Board of Overseers, with the assistance of independent attorneys unaffiliated with the university and the corporate board members, must be initiated to determine whether Harvard's own policies protecting whistleblowers actually apply .” were violated, and the other alleged governance and investigative failures are true.”
And others who Gay is accused of plagiarizing, like Dr. Carol Swain, insist that Gay is unsuitable for the role.
Swain said Gay should be fired.
Dr. Carol Swain claims Harvard will not condemn President Claudine Gay because she is “the product of an elite system that holds high-pedigree minorities to lower standards.”
Harvard launched an investigation in October into allegations that Gay had plagiarized some of her academic papers, months before the allegations surfaced publicly
“I have some free, unsolicited advice for Harvard University,” Swain wrote on X.
'1. Stop listening to the plagiarism apologists.
'2. Fire Claudine Gay quickly. She may be relieved of her duties until the terms are negotiated.”
Swain, who wrote a scathing essay for the Wall Street Journal in which he accused Gay of receiving special treatment as a “prominent minority,” said the company was misguided.
“Stop listening to the racist mob of whites and blacks who scream racism while being some of the worst offenders,” Swain said.
“Hire the best man or woman who can bring the university back to sanity.” Appeasing the Marxist identity politician should not be considered. “The person for the job could be a middle- to older-aged white Jewish man who believes in classical liberalism.”
Swain also urged Harvard leaders to “have a conversation with the people harmed by Gay’s plagiarism and the system that protects them.”
She said it was time to “recognize that Harvard’s systemic 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 did not cite portions 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 accusing her of plagiarism, adding “inverted commas and citations,” a university spokesman said.
It was also revealed that following the letter, Gay corrected two additional cases of insufficient citation. The school told the Boston Globe that it found “examples of double language without appropriate attribution” in its 1997 doctoral dissertation.
“President Gay will update her dissertation and correct these instances of under-citation.”
Bill Ackman said Monday that a full investigation is needed
The saga began on December 10, when investigative journalist Christopher Rufo reported in a Substack post that Gay had plagiarized portions of four works over 24 years, including her 1997 doctoral dissertation and a series of articles.
The university investigated the plagiarism allegations and announced on December 12 that corrections had been made.
The corrections were made to a 2017 article titled “A Room to Yourself?” “The Partisan Allocation of Affordable Housing,” in the Urban Affairs Review.
Gay defended her work to the Boston Globe: “I stand for the integrity of my scholarship.” “Throughout my career, I have worked to ensure that my scholarship meets the highest academic standards.”
Gay was accused of copying two paragraphs from papers by then-Harvard scholars D. Stephen Voss and Bradley Palmquist.
A paragraph is almost identical except for a few words.
However, Gay did not use quotation marks or quotations in the text – Voss and Palmquist are not quoted anywhere in their dissertation.
Gay was accused of copying two paragraphs from papers by then-Harvard scholars D. Stephen Voss and Bradley Palmquist. A paragraph is almost identical except for a few words
However, Gay did not use quotation marks or quotations in the text – Voss and Palmquist are not quoted anywhere in their dissertation
D. Stephen Voss, who now teaches at the University of Kentucky, told The Crimson that while Gay was “technically plagiarized,” it was “minor to inconsequential.”
It is unclear whether the same rules applied when Gay submitted her dissertation in 1997.
But Voss, who now teaches at the University of Kentucky, told The Crimson that while Gay was “technically plagiarized,” it was “minor to inconsequential.”
He said: “It doesn't seem sneaky at all… It looks like maybe she just had no sense of what we normally tell students to do and not do.”
Harvard professor Lawrence Lobo, one of those who were allegedly plagiarized by Gay, also told the Boston Globe: “These allegations do not concern me because our work was specifically acknowledged.”