Claudine Gay’s ‘disastrous performance’ was the ‘tip of the iceberg’: Ilya Shapiro
Former Georgetown law professor Ilya Shapiro joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to discuss Harvard and the growing pressure the university has faced over its response to plagiarism allegations.
Harvard students penned an editorial in the university's student newspaper calling on embattled President Claudine Gay to resign from her position following weeks of allegations regarding antisemitism and plagiarism.
"University President Claudine Gay should resign," the piece titled, "Dissent: For Harvard’s Sake, It’s Time to Let Gay Go," began. "Harvard’s presidency is no mere empty honor; it is a deeply challenging managerial job with deeply challenging duties, not least of which is navigating national outcry," the piece continued.
"In each of these respects, Gay has failed," the students stated in their Harvard Crimson editorial. "The Harvard Corporation must find a leader who can do better."
Crimson Opinion Writers Brooks B. Anderson and Joshua A. Kaplan published their thoughts in a "dissenting op-ed," which is not the official position of the paper. Occasionally, the Crimson editorial board is divided on an issue, giving dissenting board members the opportunity to express their opposition in a separate editorial, the paper explained.
In addition to her controversial testimony before Congress and her "botched" public responses to the Israel-Hamas War following the October 7 terrorist attack, which included "out-of-touch email after out-of-touch email to the student body, which totaled five in the end," Anderson and Kaplan said the "situation seems to worsen with every passing week" as she appears to have plagiarized multiple portions of academic papers.
Harvard President Claudine Gay (2nd L) attends a menorah lighting ceremony on the seventh night of Hanukkah with the University's Jewish community on December 13, 2023, in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
In addition, an anonymous student and member of Harvard's Honor Council wrote an op-ed published in the Harvard Crimson on Sunday, stating Gay is "getting off easy" from her recent plagiarism allegations.
"I have served as a voting member of the Harvard College Honor Council, the body tasked with upholding the College’s community standards of academic integrity," the student began. "In my time on the Council, I heard dozens of cases. When students — my classmates, peers, and friends — appear before the council, they are distraught. For most, it is the worst day of their college careers. For some, it is the worst day of their lives. They often cry."
The student explained that because of first-hand experiences demonstrating how heart-wrenching, but necessary such decisions can be, Gay should resign "for her numerous and serious violations of academic ethics." The student also argued that evidence suggests Gay's plagiarism was "routine and pervasive" throughout her career.
"When my peers are found responsible for multiple instances of inadequate citation, they are often suspended for an academic year," the student wrote. "When the president of their university is found responsible for the same types of infractions, the fellows of the Corporation ‘unanimously stand in support of’ her."
"There is one standard for me and my peers and another, much lower standard for our University’s president," the student concluded. "The Corporation should resolve the double standard by demanding her resignation."
In the dissenting editorial, the two students went on to criticize the Harvard Crimson and their fellow editorial board members for their argument that President Gay should stay in her post, despite the pervasive plagiarism.
"Because our peers avoid reckoning with the severity of Gay’s failures, dismissing instances of explicit plagiarism as insufficient to warrant her resignation, we respectfully dissent," the students wrote.
"As students, we are exhausted," they added.
They admit that Gay "may be a good person" or "may even be a praiseworthy scholar, despite the allegations," but that is not enough to remain president of Harvard University.
"The leader of the world’s foremost university must be held to a higher standard, one that Gay has unfortunately failed to meet," the students concluded. "It is clear to us that the continuation of Gay’s tenure as president only hurts the University. For Harvard’s sake, Gay must go."
Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.