The conservative who led the charge to fire former Harvard President Claudine Gay is now disputing her New York Times essay, saying she lied about “immediately” requesting correction of plagiarized work.
Gay, 53, resigned on Tuesday – after just six months in the role – and spoke for the first time since her dismissal in a New York Times op-ed claiming that her dismissal for plagiarism and anti-Semitism scandals was actually the result of a racist campaign.
Now conservative activist Christopher Rufo, who first publicly raised allegations of plagiarism in her work, is disputing her op-ed, saying, “Claudine Gay is lying to the New York Times. She did not “immediately request corrections.”
Rufo, who has been outspoken for his crusades against critical race theory, DEI initiatives and transgender rights, didn't stop there.
“She denied the allegations, intimidated the New York Post into silence, and then only corrected them under duress. There are still dozens of uncorrected cases of plagiarism.'
Gay did not use the word “plagiarism” in her essay, only admitting that she had misattributed quotes in her academic writings. These accusations reportedly cost her her job at Harvard.
Christopher Rufo, who led the charge to fire former Harvard president Claudine Gay (pictured), is now challenging her New York Times essay, saying she lied about “immediately” requesting corrections to plagiarized work
Although she acknowledged citation errors, she praised the work in question, calling it “cutting-edge,” while claiming that she herself had published work that had “produced important research by other scientists.”
Gay said, “Lately the attacks have focused on my scholarship. My critics found examples in my academic writings where certain material duplicated the language of other scholars without proper attribution.”
'I believe that all scientists deserve full and appropriate recognition for their work. When I learned of these errors, I immediately requested corrections from the journals in which the flagged articles were published, consistent with the way I have seen similar faculty cases handled at Harvard.”
“I have never misrepresented my research findings, nor have I ever taken credit for the research of others. Moreover, the citation errors should not obscure a fundamental truth: I proudly stand behind my work and its impact on the field,” she said.
Since she has been thrust into the spotlight following her response to the October 7 Hamas terror attack, Gay's academic record has come under scrutiny and been fraught with nearly fifty accusations of plagiarism.
The saga began on December 10 when Rufo reported in a Substack post that Gay had plagiarized parts of four works over 24 years, including her 1997 dissertation and a series of articles.
Of Gay's seventeen published academic works, seven were found to contain alleged examples of plagiarism.
On Monday, that total rose to eight, with another piece of her writing reportedly containing duplicate work.
On Tuesday, Gay resigned, 28 days after her shocking testimony in Congress about anti-Semitism on campus
The university investigated the plagiarism allegations and said on December 12 that corrections had been made.
The corrections were made to a 2017 article titled “A Space for Yourself?” The Partisan Allocation of Affordable Housing,” in the Urban Affairs Review.
Congress has since opened an investigation into the allegations, and some students are complaining that they would be punished for similar academic practices.
Last week, Gay submitted two corrections to articles accusing her of plagiarism, adding “quotes and citations,” a university spokesperson said.
It was also revealed that Gay corrects two more instances of inadequate citation following the letter. The school told the Boston Globe that they found “examples of double use without appropriate attribution” in her 1997 dissertation.
“President Gay will update her thesis and correct these instances of inadequate citation,” the school said.
In her resignation, Gay said: “It was distressing to have my obligations to combat hate and uphold scientific rigor – two fundamental values fundamental to who I am – questioned and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats that are being fueled. by racial animus.”
“Despite the obsessive research of my peer-reviewed writings, few have commented on the content of my study, which focuses on the significance of minority positions in American politics.”
In her resignation, Gay said she was the victim of racist threats, writing: “(it is) frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racist hostility.”
Gay will be replaced by Alan M. Garber, Provost and Chief Academic Officer, who sat behind her during the infamous December 5 hearing
Her resignation came 28 days after her shocking congressional testimony about anti-Semitism on campus, where she refused to categorize calls for genocide against Jews as harassment.
Gay wrote in her op-ed: “On Tuesday, I made the heartbreaking but necessary decision to resign as president of Harvard. For weeks, both I and the institution to which I have dedicated my professional life have been under fire.'
'My character and intelligence have been questioned. My commitment to combating anti-Semitism has been questioned. My inbox is flooded with swear words, including death threats. I've been called the N-word more times than I care to count.”
She added: “My hope is that by resigning I will deprive demagogues of the opportunity to further weaponize my presidency in their campaign to undermine the ideals that have animated Harvard since its founding: excellence, openness, independence, truth .'
Gay will be replaced by Alan M. Garber, Provost and Chief Academic Officer, who sat behind her during the infamous December 5 hearing.