Harvard University should fire its president, Dr. Claudine Gay, “posthaste” and appoint a new leader to “steer the university back towards sanity,” political scientist Dr. Carol Swain declared in a social media post on Thursday. Swain is one of several academics whom Gay allegedly plagiarized from for her PhD dissertation.
Gay has been at the center of a plagiarism scandal for several weeks, which began when conservative activist Chris Rufo unearthed evidence that Gay lifted material verbatim from other scholars for her 1997 dissertation, entitled ‘Taking Charge: Black Electoral Success and the Redefinition of American Policies’. A follow-up investigation by the Washington Free Beacon revealed that Harvard received 40 additional accusations of plagiarism against Gay, covering seven of her published works.
An internal Harvard investigation has found four “instances of inadequate citation,” but the Ivy League university stopped short of using the term “plagiarism” and cleared her of “research misconduct.” Instead, college officials said that Gay would update her dissertation to properly cite the work she used.
CNN interviewed a number of academics this week who confirmed that Gay committed plagiarism on at least three occasions. Some of these experts dismissed the incidents as minor, while others questioned how thoroughly Harvard investigated the claims before clearing Gay of misconduct, given that plagiarism probes can often take months or even years to complete.
In a post to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Swain called on Harvard to “stop listening to the apologists for plagiarism” and “fire Claudine Gay posthaste.”
“Hire the best man or woman who can steer the university back towards sanity,” she continued. “Appeasing the Marxist identity politics mob should not be a consideration. The person for the job might be a middle to older age white Jewish man who believes in classical liberalism.”
Gay is accused of stealing at least two paragraphs from Swain’s book, ‘Black Faces, Black Interests’ for her dissertation.
Gay has served as Harvard’s president since September, and is the first African-American to lead the university. Her defenders have accused Rufo and conservative media figures of orchestrating a racist smear campaign against her. However, Gay herself has been accused of using her various positions within the university to denigrate white students and “dename” buildings, programs, and monuments associated with white men.
Earlier this month, Democratic Party donor Bill Ackman claimed that Gay had been hired based on race and gender criteria set by Harvard’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office. Prior to the plagiarism scandal, Ackman called for Gay’s firing over her defense of anti-Israel speech on campus.
Harvard should “stop listening to the racist mob of whites and blacks who cry racism while being among the worst offenders,” Swain said on Thursday, adding that the university must “apologize to alumni, students, parents, and donors who have been harmed and embarrassed” by Gay’s behavior.