The following is an exclusive excerpt from Representative Elise Stefanik’s new book, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities.
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On Sunday, December 10, 2023, the Harvard Corporation and the Harvard Board of Overseers were scheduled to meet to determine the fate of Claudine Gay’s presidency following her atrocious testimony at our congressional hearing. The highly secretive and opaque Harvard Corporation is filled with senior Obama administration officials. It was later reported New York Post President Obama called on the Harvard Corporation Board before their meeting to directly lobby and pressure Claudine Gay to keep Claudine Gay as president, so as to “remain comprehensive”.[Harvard] Administration stable – including its structure.” Many of that “administration” were either former high-ranking Obama officials, including members of his Cabinet, or were major supporters and donors to President Obama. I was told directly by a member of the Harvard Corporation board that Obama shared that he felt it was important “not to give up” [me] A victory.” Again, there is no concern about Jewish students or the importance of fighting anti-Semitism, but rather typical partisan democracy against an effectively elected Republican standing on a moral issue.
After reviewing notes and emails regarding a December 10 Harvard Board of Overseers meeting as part of a congressional investigation, the House Education Committee found that while Claudine Gay publicly “expressed respect for the process and emphasized that she was happy to appear before the committee for questioning… behind closed doors at a formal meeting of the university’s Board of Overseers… Gay made a stunning personal attack on the member of Congress, whose questioning Rep. Elise Stefanik, herself a Harvard alumnus, revealed that Claudine Gay acknowledged “her truth that calls for violence against the Jewish community should not be allowed,” before attacking me with an apparent reference to what she described as a “hatemonger” and a “supporter of the Proud Boys.” False and arguably defamatory statements were leaked to me in real time from sources in the room, even before the congressional investigative documents that corroborated them were leaking like a sieve straight into my office at the Capitol.
but no SNL’s Neither the worst cold start ever nor the Harvard Board of Overseers meeting with Claudine Gay in the hot seat were the biggest news stories of the weekend related to Harvard’s complicated self-inflicted scandals.
On the same day that Claudine Gay was in front of the Harvard Board of Overseers, independent journalists Christopher Ruffo and Christopher Brunet broke the bombshell news story published on Substack, exposing Gay’s alleged plagiarism of large portions of her PhD. Dissertation, “Taking Charge: Black Electoral Success and the Redefinition of American Policies.” This fearless reporting received over one hundred million impressions on X. Entire paragraphs were reportedly lifted from various scholars and authors, with an entire appendix copied in its entirety. This was the tip of the iceberg. Nearly fifty instances of alleged plagiarism were found in various Claudine Gay publications during her academic career. She seemed to be a serial plagiarist. Any single instance of plagiarism will subject a student to severe disciplinary action at Harvard, often including withdrawal from the university.
While the alleged serial plagiarism by Harvard’s president was shocking news to the general public, it became even more of a bombshell when it was later revealed. Washington Free Beacon Surprisingly, this was already a well-known and well-kept secret by the Harvard Corporation. Even before public reporting, New York Post Claudine Gay arrived at Harvard in late October 2023 with credible allegations of twenty-five instances of plagiarism. According to independent reporting Washington Free BeaconWhen the Harvard Corporation learned of the allegations, they hired ‘the leading defamation firm in the United States’ to intimidate and blackmail clients such as disgraced NBC news anchor Matt Lauer and Putin’s close friend Oleg Deripaska. Post. (it worked.)”
Did Harvard follow established protocols for investigating academic misconduct? no way. That would be very honest and fair! Instead the Harvard Corporation devised an entirely different process by appointing a so-called independent panel of experts, whose identities were never revealed, to “review” the allegations. After a two-week period, by mid-November, the independent panel issued a memorandum to the Harvard Corporation stating that while Claudine Gay’s work was “sophisticated and original”, there was “virtually no evidence of deliberate assertion of conclusions that are not those of President Gay.” According to a report ultimately released by Harvard at a later date, “the independent panel found that some of the allegations were ‘frivolous’, concerned ‘commonly used language’ or ‘fragments of sentence’, or arose from a 1993 publication to which they had paid ‘little attention’.” The independent panel identified nine of the twenty-five allegations presented. Post Of “main concern” are allegations that it “paraphrases or reproduces the language of others without quotation marks and without adequate and clear attribution of sources,” and “on occasion” fails to provide citations in accordance with the highest established scientific practice. It further noted that, regarding one allegation, “excerpts of repetitive language and interpretation…can be read as Gay’s claimed conclusions are actually Schwartz’s conclusions,” although “there is no evidence that that was his intent.” Additionally, the Harvard Corporation will use the software to uncover over twenty-five of Claudine Gay’s original examples of alleged plagiarism. So what did the Harvard Corporation do? Of course, there would be no accountability or basic application of academic standards. He found that many of the allegations were “unfounded”, and in cases where she did not follow Harvard’s college guide, Claudine Gay would be given a second chance that was not given to any other Harvard student or faculty; He will be allowed to “improve”.
This entire episode is a prime example of academic rot at the highest level in the world’s most elite higher education institution. Keep in mind, it all happened First Claudine Gay’s Harvard plagiarism scandal also became public.
Representative Elise Stefanik represents New York’s 21st Congressional District. His new book, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities, is available now.
