The congressional committee investigating Harvard has taken a firm stance by issuing a letter to the university, demanding access to all documentation and communications pertaining to allegations of possible plagiarism involving its president, Claudine Gay. Harvard University, grappling with mounting inquiries regarding potential scholarly plagiarism by Gay, admitted on Wednesday that it had identified two more instances where she had allegedly failed to attribute credit properly to other scholars.
This development has proven to be an embarrassing setback for the university, which has been striving to quash the turmoil surrounding Gay’s leadership in recent weeks. The congressional committee’s demand for comprehensive documentation from Harvard intensifies the scrutiny over the allegations.
The additional issues were discovered in Gay’s doctoral dissertation from 1997, wherein Harvard reported uncovering two instances of “duplicative language without appropriate attribution.” Just last week, Harvard had acknowledged two published articles that lacked adequate citations, stating that Gay would seek corrections.
In response to the findings, the university announced that President Gay would revise her dissertation to rectify these instances of insufficient citation. This revelation comes shortly after Gay appeared to have weathered concerns over her handling of the October 7 Israel attack and accusations of antisemitism on campus, only to face criticism regarding her academic work.
The recent developments cast doubt on the Harvard board’s handling of the plagiarism allegations against Gay, prompting questions about whether they have been overly lenient in addressing these concerns.
This article was originally published in The New York Times.
