A University of Pittsburgh professor’s paper is among works that critics say Harvard President Claudine Gay plagiarized as the Ivy League leader faces growing pressure to resign.
Ms. Gay, president of Harvard since July, has been accused of lifting words and sentences from other works without proper attribution.
In a 1993 article by Ms. Gay, she employs numerous similar or identical phrases found in a paper published by Pitt history professor George Reid Andrews in 1992. Mr. Andrews and Ms. Gay’s papers both examined race in Brazil.
Ms. Gay did not credit Mr. Andrews’ work in her paper, though she did recommend a book by Mr. Andrews for further reading, according to a New York Times analysis.
In a statement provided to the Post-Gazette, Mr. Andrews said, upon reviewing Ms. Gay’s work, he does not believe she plagiarized him.
“It appears that she did borrow a few of my phrases, but this happens fairly often in academic writing and for me does not rise to the level of plagiarism,” Mr. Andrews wrote. “I am glad she read my work, learned from it and recommended it to her readers.”
According to the analysis from the New York Times, the Andrews paper says that the "rhetoric and aspirations" of a younger generation of Afro-Brazilians with "one or more years of university study" seemed removed from those of poor slum dwellers. Gay's paper uses the phrase "aspirations and rhetoric," reversing the order of those words, and refers to one or more years of "university education" rather than "university study."
The plagiarism allegations were first driven by conservative media outlets. Critics argue this instance does constitute plagiarism, and is part of a 24-year pattern of plagiarism by the Harvard leader. Ms. Gay is accused of copying phrases or entire sentences — both with and without attribution — in a slew of other works.
In response to mounting pushback, Ms. Gay has requested corrections to three articles published in 1997, 2001 and 2017, the Harvard Crimson reported this week. On Wednesday, the university announced she would request additional corrections to her 1997 dissertation, such as adding quotations and citations to properly credit others’ work.
Throughout the controversy, the university has affirmed its support for Ms. Gay, who was selected as Harvard’s 30th president and first Black leader in July. On Dec. 12, the Harvard Corporation, the Ivy League school’s governing board, issued a statement that said Ms. Gay did not violate Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.
“Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing,” part of the statement reads.
The board learned about the plagiarism concerns in late October. Ms. Gay came under public fire for plagiarism allegations in December.
The plagiarism controversy coincided with sharp criticism over Ms. Gay’s testimony during an antisemitism hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this month. The testimonies of Ms. Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill drew backlash, particularly for weak answers on whether calls for Jewish genocide violated campus code of conduct, and perceived hypocrisy on free speech policies.
Ms. Magill resigned in the aftermath of the hearing. The Harvard Corporation decided to retain Ms. Gay after calls for her removal.
First Published: December 23, 2023, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: December 23, 2023, 9:18 p.m.
