Harvard President Accused of Plagiarizing Other Scholars in Academic Work

Claudine Gay, President of Harvard University, testifies before the House Education and Workforce Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Dec. 5, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Harvard University President Claudine Gay has been accused of plagiarizing content from other scholars.

“I have obtained documentation demonstrating that Harvard President Claudine Gay plagiarized multiple sections of her Ph.D. thesis, violating Harvard’s policies on academic integrity. This is a bombshell,” Christopher F. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank, said in a Dec. 11 X post.

He pointed to a 1997 paper by Ms. Gay, which he said “lifts an entire paragraph nearly verbatim” from a 1990 paper by authors Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam

The original 1990 paper has the following statement—“Blacks in high-black-empowerment areas—as indicated by control of the mayor’s office֫—are more active than either blacks living in low-empowerment areas or their white counterparts of comparable socioeconomic status.”

In Ms. Gay’s 1997 paper, she writes—“African-Americans in ‘high black-empowerment’ areas—as indicated by control of the mayor’s office֫—are more active than either African-Americans in low-empowerment areas or their white counterparts of comparable socioeconomic status.”

The only alteration that Ms. Gay made in her paper was to change the term “black” to “African-American.” Mr. Rufo points out that Ms. Gay’s verbatim copy of the sentence is “a direct violation of Harvard’s policy.”

University Policy

Harvard policy states, “When you paraphrase, your task is to distill the source’s ideas in your own words. It’s not enough to change a few words here and there and leave the rest; instead, you must completely restate the ideas in the passage in your own words. If your own language is too close to the original, then you are plagiarizing, even if you do provide a citation.”

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Mr. Rufo alleged that Ms. Gay “repeats this violation of Harvard’s policy throughout the document,” using other papers which she “reproduced nearly verbatim, without quotation marks.”

In one instance, Ms. Gay “appears to lift material from scholar Carol Swain.” A passage in Ms. Gay’s 1997 paper uses “phrasing and language nearly verbatim” to Ms. Swain’s 1995 book, “Black Faces, Black Interests,” without citation, Mr. Rufo said.

This violates Harvard policy stating that when drawing from a source, “you must give credit to the author of the source material, either by placing the source material in quotation marks and providing a clear citation, or by paraphrasing the source material and providing a clear citation.”

Ms. Gay has done “neither,” Mr. Rufo said.

Later, Ms. Gay also used nearly identical language to Ms. Swain’s book without adding quotation marks, which also violates Harvard’s rules, Mr. Rufo stated.

Responding to the revelations, Ms. Swain said in a Dec. 11 X post that Ms. Gay “would not be the first one” to plagiarize her. “The practice among some academics white and black has been to use my work and never cite me.”

Mr. Rufo points out that Harvard makes it very clear that students who plagiarize “without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including requirement to withdraw from the College.”

As such, “the same standard should apply to the university president,” he said.

Experts Review the Allegations

An analysis by the Washington Free Beacon shed further light on the issue of Ms. Gay’s alleged plagiarism.

Between 1993 and 2017, Ms. Gay wrote four papers in which she quoted or paraphrased nearly 20 authors without giving proper attribution, the analysis found after reportedly consulting with experts.

In a 1997 thesis, Ms. Gay is alleged to have borrowed a full paragraph from a paper by scholars Bradley Palmquist and Stephen Voss, making just a few alterations.

Commenting on the allegation, Matt Lieberman, a neuroscientist at UCLA, said that “this isn’t lightweight plagiarism. This example is full blown. An entire paragraph lifted and the original never cited at all. Any respectable doctoral committee would have refused her a PhD over this. This had to be fully intentional.”

The four papers the Washington Free Beacon has identified as containing plagiarized content make up a significant portion of Ms. Gay’s academic work given that she has only authored 11 peer-reviewed papers.

“If this were a stand-alone instance, it would be reprehensible but perhaps excused as the blunder of someone working hastily,” Peter Wood, a former associate provost of Boston University, told the Washington Free Beacon. “But that excuse vanishes as the examples multiply.”

Mr. Wood investigated cases of potential plagiarism when he was at Boston University.

The outlet also spoke with Alexander Riley, a sociologist at Bucknell University.

“The question here is whether the president of an elite institution such as Harvard can feasibly have an academic record this marred by obvious plagiarism,” Mr. Riley said. “I do not see how Harvard could possibly justify keeping her in that position in light of this evidence.”

In a statement to The Boston Globe, Ms. Gay dismissed the allegations.

“I stand by the integrity of my scholarship. Throughout my career, I have worked to ensure my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards,” she said.

Controversy After House Hearing

The plagiarism allegation comes as Ms. Gay is facing calls for resignation after she refused to clearly condemn anti-Semitism on campus during a Dec. 5 testimony before Congress.

When questioned by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) during the testimony as to whether “calling for the genocide of Jews and the elimination of Israel” violates Harvard’s code of conduct, Ms. Gay did not give a straight answer.

“We embrace a commitment to free expression and give a wide berth to free expression even of views that are objectionable, outrageous, and offensive,” she said.

Ms. Gay’s response triggered intense criticism, with Ms. Stefanik saying in a Dec. 5 X post that the Harvard president “should resign immediately.”

Following a Nov. 14 House hearing on “Confronting the Scourge of Anti-Semitism on Campus,” Ms. Stefanik and several GOP Harvard graduates had also called for Ms. Gay’s resignation for “enabling” anti-Semitism on academic campuses.

The Epoch Times reached out to Ms. Gay for comment.