House Republicans are investigating Harvard’s handling of “credible allegations of plagiarism” against its president, Claudine Gay, as well as the university’s efforts to suppress inquiries from The Post about its scholarship.
House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) wrote a letter Wednesday to Harvard Corporation senior fellow Penny Pritzker demanding internal documents and communications about the scandal.
Foxx’s letter questions whether the university’s governing body is holding Gay to the “same standards” as students after his work was flagged for dozens of instances of copying other academics — including sections from his 1997 Ph.D. thesis.
The Post first contacted Harvard about the apparently inappropriate quote nearly two months ago — and was later threatened with a defamation suit if it published a story based on the allegations.
As part of the investigation, Foxx has requested any records regarding the university’s “public response to media inquiries.”
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), another committee member and Harvard alumna, has also vowed to use “every tool at our disposal including subpoena power” to hold Gay accountable.
Rep. Virginia Foxx and more Republicans are investigating Harvard’s handling of “credible allegations of plagiarism” against President Claudine Gay, as well as the university’s efforts to block inquiries from The Post. Getty Images House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has vowed to use “every tool at our disposal including subpoena power” to hold Gay accountable. AP
“Harvard University’s deplorable record of stifling free speech has expanded beyond campus, threatening the New York Post following their investigation and coverage of Claudine Gay’s history of serial plagiarism,” Stefanik told The Post Thursday.
“The attempted bullying and subsequent censorship is completely unacceptable; a Congressional investigation will use every tool at our disposal including subpoena power to expose the rot of antisemitism that plagues higher education and the hypocrisy of Harvard’s poison ivy towers. This is a reckoning.”
The committee’s letter also states that Harvard’s federal funding is conditioned on its compliance with academic integrity standards overseen by the New England Higher Learning Commission and asks the university to “assure” those standards are upheld by submitting records.
“Harvard University’s deplorable record of stifling free speech has expanded beyond campus, threatening the New York Post following their investigation and coverage of Claudine Gay’s history of serial plagiarism,” Stefanik told The Post. Getty Images
“If a university is willing to look the other way and not hold faculty accountable for engaging in academically dishonest behavior, it diminishes its educational mission and value,” Foxx wrote. “Students must be evaluated fairly, under known standards – and have the right to see that faculty as well.”
The inquiry comes after Gay was brought before Congress on December 5 to testify about antisemitism on Harvard’s campus, where he was pressed by Stefanik about whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated the university’s code of conduct related to bullying and harassment.
Gay said the allowance for the speech depends on “context,” declining to give a yes-or-no answer and adding that the words are only actionable if they rise to the level of bullying, harassment and intimidation.
Photo comparing Claudine Gay’s 1997 dissertation with the work of other academics. @realchrisrufo / X
“Without adequate action from the Harvard Corporation, ‘depending on the president’s context’ will also forever be tarnished as ‘presidential plagiarism,’ and a huge stain will mark Harvard’s legacy,” Foxx said in a statement.
“Although the antisemitism and plagiarism investigations carried out by the Committee are separate and distinct, both raise questions about hypocrisy in academia. In this case, how can a serial plagiarist like Claudine Gay hold students accountable for plagiarism again?”
On October 24, The Post contacted Harvard about 27 examples of Gay’s plagiarism in two academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals between 2011 and 2017, as well as an academic magazine article from 1993.
“Without adequate action from the Harvard Corporation, ‘depending on the president’s context’ will also forever be tarnished as ‘presidential plagiarism,’ and a huge stain will mark Harvard’s legacy,” Foxx said in a statement. AP
The university’s senior executive director of media relations and communications, Jonathan Swain, a former Hillary Clinton aide and member of the Biden-Harris transition team, replied he would “get back in touch in the next few days.”
The next communication The Post received, on October 27, was from Thomas Clare, a Virginia-based libel lawyer with the Clare-Locke firm who shared a 15-page letter with comments from academics cited by Gay denying he plagiarized their work.
Clare further threatened The Post with a lawsuit if the story about any alleged plagiarism was published.
However, Clare’s letter was sent two days before the Harvard Corporation had begun an internal review of Gay’s potential plagiarism, according to the university’s student newspaper.
On October 24, The Post contacted Harvard about 27 examples of Gay plagiarism in academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals and magazines between 1993 and 2017. David McGlynn
Harvard’s governing body asked a four-person subcommittee and a three-person independent panel of experts to separately investigate the allegations.
On Wednesday, Harvard announced a peer review found “instances of duplicate language without appropriate attribution” in Gay’s 1997 doctoral dissertation, but concluded it did not rise to the level of plagiarism, the Boston Globe reported.
“President Gay will update his dissertation correcting these examples of inadequate citations,” the review’s summary stated.
That same day, however, Harvard received more than 40 new allegations of plagiarism against Gay in a 37-page document, obtained and first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
“Harvard has feared losing donations and taxpayer funding because they are vulnerable to harboring antisemitism,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who sits on the committee, told The Post. Getty Images
The firestorm only added to calls from members of the House Education and Workforce Committee to conduct a thorough investigation of Harvard, its president and its policies.
“Harvard has feared losing donations and taxpayer funding because they are vulnerable to harboring antisemitism,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who sits on the committee, told The Post.
“Claudine Gay claimed to support free speech and honest inquiry in her congressional testimony, but now the university is threatening reporters and lying to protect her reputation and over $50 billion endowment. It’s a shame.”
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