Harvard defends its plagiarism investigation into its former president
In a report to a congressional committee released Friday, Harvard provided the most detailed account yet of its handling of plagiarism allegations against Claudine Gay, who resigned this month as president of the university.
The basic outline of the saga was known, but Harvard had not released many details, leading to questions about the impartiality and accuracy of the investigation.
In its report, Harvard defended the thoroughness of its plagiarism investigation. It said an outside panel had reviewed Dr. Gay had found “sophisticated and original,” with “virtually no evidence of deliberately claiming findings” that were not hers, even as it found a pattern of double language in three articles.
But the report also shows that the university's administration was slow to fully account for its work. Instead, Harvard attempted to investigate a steady stream of plagiarism allegations for several weeks, but was unable to provide an immediate, authoritative response to questions about Dr.'s scholarship. Gay.
The report is part of a broader submission of papers by Harvard prepared in response to a Letter dated December 20 of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which investigates allegations of plagiarism and anti-Semitism against universities. That committee held the now infamous hearing on anti-Semitism on campus, during which Dr. Gay and two other university presidents were criticized for their legalistic answers to questions about anti-Semitism.
The committee said it was currently reviewing Harvard's submission. So far, only the plagiarism report has been made public.
Harvard's report begins on October 24, when it says a New York Post reporter approached the university about the plagiarism allegations.
The Post presented Harvard with a list of 25 excerpts from which Dr. Gay, a political scientist, was accused of plagiarism from three articles she had written. One article dates from 1993, when she was a student, and the others from 2012 and 2017, when she was on the faculty, the report said.
According to the report, Harvard contacted several authors it accused of plagiarism — “none of whom objected to then-President Gay's language.”
The university has formed a subcommittee to lead the review, with the help of attorneys. The subcommittee members were Biddy Martin, a former president of Amherst College; Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, former California Supreme Court justice; Shirley Tilghman, a former president of Princeton University; and Theodore V. Wells Jr., partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison.
The subcommittee then appointed a three-member external panel. The summary describes the panelists as tenured faculty members at leading research institutions and two are former presidents of the American Political Science Association.
They have asked to keep their identities confidential, Harvard said. But the House committee, which has the power to subpoena witnesses, could still demand their names.
The independent panel reviewed the work of Dr. Gay not fully rated. It only investigated The Post's allegations and compared Dr. Gay with eleven articles by other scientists, the report said.
The panel found that there was “virtually no evidence of intentional claims of findings other than those of President Gay,” the report said.
But it raised concerns about a pattern of repetitive language. And Dr. Gay, who stood behind her scholarship, had to submit some corrections to citations and citations.
The review briefly appeared to have dismissed the allegations, and the university's board of trustees, the Harvard Corporation, supported her continued presidency.
But by then, new allegations had surfaced on social media, this time about Dr. Gay. Harvard's report states that the subcommittee “immediately” reviewed her thesis, and that Dr. Gay also had to submit some corrections.
An additional complaint was filed with Harvard's Research Integrity Office on Dec. 19, but no additional corrections were required, the report said.
Two weeks later she was out.
Harvard's report acknowledges that the university did not handle the review perfectly, suggesting the university was in crisis as it faced an uproar over its handling of anti-Semitism on campus.
“These allegations arose at a time of unprecedented events and tensions on campus and globally,” the report said. “We understand and acknowledge that many may view our efforts as lacking transparency, which raises questions about our process and standard of review.”
On Friday, Harvard also announced new rules to curb student protests.
In a message just before the start of college classes on Monday, Harvard said that demonstrations without permission would not be allowed in classrooms, libraries, dormitories or dining halls. Instead, protests are limited to “courtyards, quadrangles and other similar spaces” and cannot stop students from walking to class.
The clarification did not directly address the question raised during the Congressional hearing that contributed to Dr. Gay: Whether protesters chanted slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — which many Israel supporters interpret as a call to eradicate Israel — would violate Harvard's code of conduct.
Annie Karni reporting contributed.