Acclaimed black scholar demands answers from Harvard board over Claudine Gay’s alleged plagiarism of her work

An acclaimed African-American scholar who has accused Harvard’s outgoing president Claudine Gay of ripping off her work is demanding that the prestigious university’s board  clarify what exactly they consider plagiarism — after they stood by the embattled academic’s work. 

Attorneys representing Carol Swain, a former political science professor at Vanderbilt University, sent a letter to the Harvard Corporation, the school’s highest governing body,  requesting to know what “remedies” the Ivy League institution seeks to make for the unauthorized use of her work.

“Through its acts, omissions, and public statements surrounding the use of Dr. Swain’s work, the Harvard Corporation is now invested in this matter and its subsequent outcome,” attorney Robert Kleinman wrote on behalf of Swain.

The stern missive, dated Jan. 3,  also sought clarification on  what constitutes “duplicative language” and when the line crosses over into plagiarism.

“How many instances of duplicative language in a scholarly work would constitute plagiarism?” the letter asks. 

“Would five instances of duplicative language constitute plagiarism? Would 50?”

Gay has been accused of lifting passages from the scholars’ Woodrow Wilson prize-winning work “Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress” to use in her 1997 doctoral thesis.

“Have a sit down conversation with the people who have been harmed by the plagiarism of Gay and the system that protects her,” Swain posted last month on X, calling for Gay to be fired “posthaste.”

“Stop listening to the apologists for plagiarism,” she also wrote in the lengthy post titled, “Some free unsolicited advice for Harvard University.”

“Stop listening to the racist mob of whites and blacks who cry racism while being among the worst offenders.”

The Harvard Corporation, meanwhile,  said that an independent review had uncovered three instances of “inadequate citation” on Gay’s part, but no misconduct. 

“Harvard can’t condemn Ms. Gay because she is the product of an elite system that holds minorities of high pedigree to a lower standard,” Swain hit back in response.

“This harms academia as a whole, and it demeans Americans, of all races, who had to work for everything they earned.”