By Hailey Gomez
Harvard University President Claudine Gay was hit with six new plagiarism charges Monday, according to a complaint obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The second complaint filed to the university was addressed to three school leaders, making nearly 50 allegation charges against the Harvard president, according to the Washington Free Beacon. An anonymous source filed the second complaint claiming that Gay had allegedly plagiarized in both her publications and dissertation, demanding that the university open a “new research misconduct inquiry,” according to the complaint. (RELATED: Barack Obama Reportedly Intervened To Help Save President Gay At Harvard)
“Now I am forced to submit an additional complaint with nearly 50 allegations, including over half a dozen examples never seen before. Some of them occur in a publication by Gay that was until now believed to be free from allegations of plagiarism. Others occur in the dissertation,” the complaint stated.
“Harvard’s “independent review” missed them. For this reason and others, a new research misconduct inquiry must be opened (Inquiry 1).”
The first complaint, which was published on Dec. 19 by the Washington Free Beacon, brought forward alleged evidence of Gay’s plagiarism and called out the university for not following their own plagiarism policies after reportedly being contacted about the president’s allegations back in October 2023.
“When Harvard was contacted with allegations of research misconduct in October, did the RIO and CPC Chair receive notification of “apparent research misconduct” as required under this policy?” the first complaint questioned.
“Did any individuals subject to this policy fail to report observed, suspected, or apparent research misconduct to the RIO and CPC Chair? Note that Dr. Gay is subject to this policy, as are any other FAS personnel who reviewed the earlier allegations.”
Gay’s seventeen published works have been under scrutiny following the first news of allegations, with seven of the works impacted by the charges, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The second complaint now highlights an eighth work of Gay’s, a 2001 article that allegedly lifts almost half a page from University of Wisconsin political science professor David Cannon. (RELATED: ‘How Arrogant Is Harvard?’: Harvard Faculty Pressure Board Members To Resign Over Presidential Plagiarism Scandal)
Gay allegedly used four unquoted sentences from Cannon’s 1999 book “Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts,” and minorly tweaking certain words to include in her article “The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California,” the Washington Free Beacon reported. Gay additionally only included the scholar in the bibliography, not citing him in the passage, the outlet stated.
However, in response to the new allegations, Cannon told the Washington Free Beacon that he was “not at all concerned about the passages,” emphasizing that it wasn’t “even close” to “academic plagiarism.”
“I am not at all concerned about the passages,” Canon stated. “This isn’t even close to an example of academic plagiarism.”
The new complaint also highlighted more alleged plagiarism material from Gay’s dissertation, reportedly lifting a full sentence from her former thesis adviser, Gary King, when describing a mathematical model, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The Harvard president allegedly did not cite or quote King in the new allegations, adding to the three corrections in her dissertation, the outlet reported.
Faculty at the school have already called on members of the university’s board to have Gay resign after the first wave of plagiarism allegations came forward. However, Gay has not shown any signs of stepping down from her position since calls for her removal started after her congressional hearing with two other top university presidents in which they refused to say calling for the genocide of Jews was against the school’s code of conduct.
