Harvard University’s student newspaper is cautiously standing by embattled President Claudine Gay — arguing that while she may have plagiarized, it doesn’t warrant her resignation.
The Harvard Crimson’s editorial board acknowledged in an op-ed Saturday that some of the accusations against Gay were “indeed plagiarism,” but concluded that it appeared he had no “intent” to steal other people’s work.
“To be clear, this kind of recklessness is unbecoming of a Harvard president,” the article said, representing the “majority view” of the editorial board.
“A judicious assessment of the plagiarism charges indicated that Gay’s behavior constituted plagiarism, but because the errors did not appear to be intentional, they did not justify his resignation,” he said.
Board members were divided over the editorial, with two writing impassioned dissents, arguing that Gay should resign.
Driving the student press’s defense of Gay — at least in part — is the concern that the array of negative press about the Ivy League school’s president “was produced by conservative activists intent on discrediting higher education.”
The editorial board of the Harvard Crimson said ‘we remain in awe of President Gay’s academic achievements.’ David McGlynn
The board drew attention to how the accusations of plagiarism came after Gay faced controversy with his Dec. 5 testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about the institution’s policies toward combating antisemitism on campus.
“It would be journalistic malpractice to comment on the allegations without noting that they only created such a frenzy because disbelieving actors already wanted Gay’s head,” the board wrote.
“That many of Gay’s most vocal critics are motivated by ulterior motives does not diminish concerns about his academic integrity,” it continued, arguing that it had an “honest, fair and intellectually serious” discussion of the accusations.
There are more than two dozen documented instances of alleged plagiarism, including in two peer-reviewed journal articles and Gay’s PhD dissertation.
Claudine Gay became the subject of national controversy after testifying to a congressional panel earlier this month. David McGlynn
The Harvard Corporation, the school’s governing body, found that Gay’s work contained “duplicate language without proper attribution,” and he moved to make corrections in the journal article.
As noted by the Crimson editorial board, some of the incidents in question involved attribution errors, missing quotation marks and straight-up sentences almost word for word.
The Post contacted the university in October for comment on several allegations of plagiarism, and the school’s attorney responded with a letter threatening The Post with legal action, arguing that the allegations were “proven false” and that Gay’s work was “properly cited and credited.” .”
Harvard University is generally considered one of the second highest ranked post-secondary institutions in the country. David McGlynn
The student newspaper took notice of the threat.
In their dissenting editorial, two board members condemned Gay’s conduct and asserted that he tarnished Harvard’s “widely respected international brand.”
They point to donors’ tenderness toward Gay, who remains at the helm of the prestigious school, and emphasize that the controversy surrounding him extends beyond the plagiarism scandal.
“Our doubts started after the Hamas attack on October 7. Without question, Gay has botched his public response to the crisis,” they said.
Claudine Gay has survived calls to resign before the plagiarism scandal explodes. AP
“We’re tired of reading about Harvard’s failure every time we check the news. We are fed up with journalists bothering us for interviews on Pages,” they continued.
“The Gay President may be a good man. He may also have been an admirable scholar, albeit an alleged one. But that is not enough to remain president.”
Gay is Harvard’s 30th president, having served in the role since July. She was Harvard’s first black female president.
The Post contacted Harvard for comment.
“I stand by the integrity of my scholarship. Throughout my career, I have strived to ensure that my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards,” Gay previously told The Boston Globe.
The House Education Committee is currently looking into allegations of plagiarism against Gay as well as antisemitism at the institution.
Gay previously faced calls to resign following his congressional testimony that ultimately led to the downfall of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill who appeared with him before the Education Committee earlier this month.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
