Harvard Honor Council student accuses school of double standard, says President Claudine Gay must resign over plagiarism scandal

A member of Harvard’s student Honor Council called for the resignation of university president Claudine Gay over her ongoing plagiarism scandal — accusing the school’s governing body of having one standard for the embattled administrator and another for the student body.

“Gay’s getting off easy,” the student, who sits on the council tasked with deciding sanctions for classmates caught plagiarizing, wrote in a letter published anonymously in the Harvard Crimson Sunday.

“Let’s compare the treatment of Harvard undergraduates suspected of plagiarism with that of their president,” they wrote.

“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.”

First time plagiarism infractions — which can stem from omitted quotation marks, and incomplete or absent citations — typically result in one term of probation and the stripping away of the student’s “good standing” status, which prevents them from studying abroad or even graduating, the author wrote.

Repeat offenses can result in students being forced to withdraw from the university for two semesters, according to the letter, published in Harvard’s student newspaper.

Gay was accused of plagiarism after critics identified dozens of examples from several journal articles and her PhD dissertation that included missing quotation marks, incomplete citations and sentences copied almost word for word.

“What is striking about the allegations of plagiarism against President Gay is that the improprieties are routine and pervasive,” the letter said.

Gay was found to have used “duplicative language without appropriate attribution” in some of her academic work, the school’s governing body, the Harvard Corporation said after an investigation.

Instead of Gay being forced to step away from the university as students would for similar offenses, Harvard stood behind its president and allowed her to correct the mistakes, the student letter noted.

“That the Corporation considers her corrections an adequate response is not fair to undergraduates, who cannot simply submit corrections to avoid penalties,” the student wrote.

“When my peers are found responsible for multiple instances of inadequate citation, they are often suspended for an academic year. 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,” the letter said, citing the Corporation’s statement about the scandal.

The scandal has left many calling for Gay’s resignation and others shrugging the mistakes off as unintentional.

“A sober-minded assessment of the plagiarism charges indicates that Gay’s behavior constitutes plagiarism, but since the errors do not appear intentional, they do not warrant her resignation,” the Harvard Crimson’s editorial board wrote in an op-ed published Saturday.

The member of the student Honor Council dismissed arguments excusing the plagiarism for being unintentional as ridiculous.

“While a single lifted paragraph could be blamed on a lapse in judgment, a pattern is more concerning,” the student wrote.

“There is one standard for me and my peers and another, much lower standard for our University’s president. The Corporation should resolve the double standard by demanding her resignation.”