Harvard University, one of the world’s most respected educational institutions, is facing an uncomfortable situation. Its president, Dr. Claudine Gay, is already under investigation for alleged plagiarism and now faces more charges. The institution has discovered at least two further occasions in which Dr Gay neglected to properly credit other experts, according to the New York Times (NYT). On Wednesday, a US congressional committee probing the plagiarism charges demanded that all documentation and communications be produced before it.
The fresh flaws were discovered in Dr Gay’s 1997 PhD dissertation, where Harvard stated it discovered two examples of “duplicative language without appropriate attribution”
The fresh flaws were discovered in Dr Gay’s 1997 PhD dissertation, where Harvard stated it discovered two examples of “duplicative language without appropriate attribution,” according to the NYT story. “President Gay will update her dissertation, correcting these instances of inadequate citation,” Harvard said on Wednesday, according to the report. Harvard stated in an initial evaluation last week that it discovered two published articles that required extra citations. The Congressional committee is led by Republican Virginia Foxx, who stated that the investigation would look at whether students and faculty are held to the same academic standards.
“Our concern is that standards are not being applied consistently, resulting in different rules for different members of the academic community,” the BBC cited from her letter written to Harvard’s board. She has asked the university to respond by December 29. “If a university is willing to look the other way and not hold faculty accountable for engaging in academically dishonest behaviour, it cheapens its mission and the value of its education,” said Ms Foxx. Harvard is a private institution that receives public financing in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Its assets total $50 billion. Harvard’s board of trustees stated that it became aware of plagiarism charges against Dr Gay in October, but that no violations of Harvard regulations were discovered.
