Gay’s resignation — just six months and two days into the presidency — comes amid growing allegations of plagiarism and lasting doubts over her ability to respond to antisemitism on campus after her disastrous congressional testimony Dec. 5.
Gay weathered scandal after scandal over her brief tenure, facing national backlash for her administration’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and allegations of plagiarism in her scholarly work.
I doubt any past Harvard prez has faced this much scrutiny, and I’m sure you would find plagiarism or worse among them if you did scrutinize them so extremely. That’s not really an excuse though, and doesn’t change the fact that the plagiarism issue is a real problem that wasn’t going away so resigning was the only way to move past it.
That’s what I’m saying, though… I don’t think anyone actually thought it was a problem until they decided they wanted her out. The supposed plagiarism was reviewed twice by independent bodies and they both said they couldn’t find an “intent to deceive or mislead”. They said that the quotations were negligent but wouldn’t be considered plagiarism in those instances and would typically be allowed to be submitted for revision.
If she was trying to pass off someone else’s words or thoughts as her own, that would be one thing. Missing a citation for a technical description doesn’t seem to fall under that umbrella.
Yes, and I’m saying this isn’t a situation where nuanced discussions about plagiarism matter in the end. Whether she was just sloppy or did it with intent, there’s an issue that people can point to, and given the current context those people aren’t going to stop. I think she is right that to serve the institution she had to resign, I’m not saying it’s ideal or just, but the situation is what it is and I believe she did the honorable thing.
I agree. They wouldn’t stop. It’s just a shame that that’s enough to derail everything. Why would anyone want that job when the school will just bow to any kind of political pressure as opposed to actual, objective issues with the way she’s performing the job.
We all know that plagiarism was not the real issue here. It was a convenient excuse to call for her resignation, but it was the other thing listed above that was the real push by certain well known non-profit groups to get her fired.
For sure. I’m not saying it is the real issue, just that it is a real issue.