Staff Reports
In a sizzling Wall Street Journal op-ed, Carol Swain, a feisty former professor, is taking a jab at Harvard for failing to condemn their president, Claudine Gay, amidst some pretty damning accusations. Swain is claiming that Harvard is giving Gay a free pass simply because she’s a “high pedigree” minority, and we all know how those highfalutin folks get treated differently. Harvard, being the prestigious institution that it is, is apparently willing to overlook some serious plagiarism claims because, well, diversity or something.
Professor says Harvard won’t condemn Claudine Gay because she’s a ‘high pedigree’ minority https://t.co/kfiM2qCmr2 pic.twitter.com/TMGKzVeTo0
— New York Post (@nypost) December 18, 2023
This whole mess started when Gay was accused of lifting other people’s work for her 1997 Ph.D. thesis and for writing a few papers that conveniently forgot to credit the original sources. Harvard’s tippity top governing body, the Harvard Corporation, did manage to find three instances of “inadequate citation” on Gay’s part, but they’re insisting there’s no misconduct. Swain is not having it and claims that Gay straight up ripped off sections of her book and an article, all without giving proper credit. The nerve!
Swain is throwing major shade, saying that Gay’s work wouldn’t cut the mustard in any other Ivy League institution, let alone Harvard. She’s calling out the higher-ups for giving Gay tenure when her work lacks the pizzazz normally expected in the Ivy Leagues. It’s like giving out gold stars for showing up to school — totally unfair to the overachievers.
But wait, there’s more! Swain is also claiming that Gay is getting a “free pass” because she’s the diversity poster child, reaping the benefits of all those fancy diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Basically, she’s saying Gay’s riding the diversity train straight to the top while the rest of us are stuck in coach.
Meanwhile, Gay is standing her ground, swearing up and down that her work is as pure as the driven snow. She’s saying her scholarship is squeaky clean and that she’s always maintained tippy-top academic standards. But, let’s be real here, folks. There’s no smoke without fire, and it sounds like there’s a whole lot of smoldering going on at Harvard.
Now, if you thought this couldn’t get any juicier, think again. Gay found herself in hot water after a not-so-great congressional hearing about antisemitism, and the Ivy League presidents, including Gay, were under fire for not condemning calls for the genocide of Jews on their campuses. Yikes! Things really hit the fan, with some bigwigs and donors calling for Gay to take a hike after her hearing debacle. It’s like a soap opera up in here!
