A New York Times columnist has called for Harvard University President Claudine Gay to be fired amid accusations of plagiarism, writing the situation has reached a “tipping point.”
John McWhorter, a professor of linguistics at Columbia University, wrote in an opinion piece for the New York Times on Thursday in which he said Gay should resign if the Ivy League school refuses to remove him from his position.
Gay allegedly quoted or paraphrased the author more than 40 times without proper attribution in his academic work — in violation of the school’s strict rules on plagiarism.
“Harvard has a clear policy on plagiarism that threatens undergraduates with the equivalent of expulsion from the university for just one example,” McWhorter wrote.
“The policy may not apply to university presidents, but the recent mounting revelations of past instances of plagiarism by Dr. Gay have made it impossible for him to retain his position.”
She added that Gay keeping her job “would not only be a sign of hollow leadership, but also risk conveying the impression of a double standard at a progressive institution for a black woman, which serves no one well, especially Dr. . Gay.”
Claudine Gay was accused of 40 acts of plagiarism. David McGlynn
Gay, Harvard’s first black president, produced only 11 academic articles in his career and not a single book of his own, said McWhorter, who is black.
His appointment as president, he argued, “gives the impression that Dr. Gay was not chosen because of his academic or scholarly credentials, which Harvard considers valuable, but rather because of his race.”
On Thursday, the complaint revealed more than 40 allegations that he plagiarized other people’s work.
John McWhorter of Columbia University said Gay should resign
The allegations first surfaced earlier this month, with allegations that he retracted the work of another scholar in his 1997 doctoral thesis and that four papers published between 1993 and 2017 did not include proper attribution.
The allegations have also caught the attention of Congress amid its investigation into allegations of antisemitism already on campus, which McWhorter said he initially dismissed, wanting more evidence.
“But following reports of additional acts of plagiarism and Harvard’s word that he would make further corrections to past writing, the weight of the accusations has taken me from ‘wait and see’ to ‘that’s it,'” he wrote in The Time.
“If the mob is calling on influential black figures to be held to the same standards as others, then we’ve arrived at a rather mysterious version of anti-racism, and just in time for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. .’s birthday in less than a month,” he wrote.
“I also hope that Harvard will safely find another black woman to serve as president if that is a must. But at this point that black woman cannot, with any grace, be Claudine Gay,” McWhorter said.
Gay has defended his academic integrity, telling the Boston Globe “Throughout my career, I have striven to ensure that my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards.”
Harvard has backed its president, with its board announcing unanimous support for Gay.
The House Education and Workforce Committee on Wednesday announced an investigation into how the school handled allegations of plagiarism against Gay.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
