Don't be fooled: Republicans don't care about plagiarism or antisemitism. They only care about taking over American education at every level, and in every state
Excellent, Claire! My colleague, Moustafa Baloumi, called this maneuver, "Throwing a dead cat on the table." I used this image in my blog on War on Campus.
Thank you, Claire. I was trying to figure out my objection to McWhorter’s woefully misguided column. And here, you’ve done it for me. I don’t feel like a lonely curmudgeon now.
Your columns are getting better and better. They were always good, but your\ are relly nailing them. You also did at the AHA. Ackman's wife is not only accused of plagirism but as I understand got Epstein mi ey for his bogus MIT schemes. The Republicans don't care. Its all about power.P,ease keep it up.
Great piece Claire- esp. your taking on McWorther. And @BonnieAnderson citing Moustafa Baloumi "Throwing a dead cat on the table" so, so apropos.
The Harvard Corporation abandoned Claudine Gay. That it did so was an example of worst practices in governance. They did great harm to higher education- and Harvard University. Theirs was an unforced error.
Where I diverge from your narrative is with regard to the role the GOP played in Gay’s demise. I don't think the GOP put the nail in Claudine Gay's coffin. I don't ascribe it solely to racsim either- though I have zero doubt that Claudine Gay as a Black woman made for a easy target for her white persecutors. Racism is systemic- and Boston is the most racist big cities in America. Opposition to Claudine Gay because she was a presumptive beneficiary of DEI smacks me as dog whistle racism 101. More on Bill Ackman.
Gay was taken down by another ism.....Zionism. The shrieks of antisemitism from Jewish students on campuses and wealthy alumni provoked a non-partisan pile-on by Zionists. In the aftermath of the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7th, three Palestinian collegians have been shot in Vermont and a Palestinan-America toddler was murdered in Chicago and his mother survived an attempt to stab her to death. They were not Jewish. Meanwhile the Jewish state of Israel is engaged in an ongoing slaughter of civilians in Gaza- children- and the world is watching on our phones. That Jewish college students feel unsettled and unsafe is a sad realtity, but it should come as a surprise to none. It’s an especially ugly time for humanity. The world is hurting as we reckon with what is taking place. Emotions are razor-sharp. In this environment Zionists have sought to weaponize trauma to silence and shame. Though it is not working as they hoped, Claudine Gay had a target on her back and she was eliminated.
Claudine Gay had no ICJ before which she could plead her case. Her downfall was never about plagiarism. I always felt as if it was only a matter of time, even after the Board had initially stood behind her. Penny Pritzker should be ashamed and she should resign. But not because she was part of hiring Claudine Gay, but because I do not believe she protected Claudine Gay.
Harvard alumni Bill Ackman- an avowed Zionist- has unleashed unbridled vitriol over the counter-narrative emerging globally in opposition to Israel's massacre of civilians and and its apartheid occupation of Palestine. He may say DEI, but that's his dead cat on the table. Ackman's tradecraft as a billionaire hedge fund warlord is to route his enemies by deploying costly and sophisticated PR, oppo research, and private investigators as he seeks to bid up his investment positions. While mainstream MAGA types like Christopher Rufo broke the Claudine Gay plagarism story they didn't create the content. It was leaked- artfully placed. Bedrock to MAGA- and the GOP- is Zionism. I imagine Donald Trump would claim to be a Zionist but I'd bet it would be purely out of political expediency with his evangelical base. Joe Biden is simply a Zionist.
I recommend all to check out Lee Fang's Substack- which I stumbled across the other day. We shall, hopefully, learn more from his exposé regarding Claudine Gay’s unraveling than any of us can speculate. He claims to have the receipts. Here’s an excerpt from his first article (January 4th) on the dossier he obtained:
"The rapid downfall of Claudine Gay, the former president of Harvard University, who resigned on January 2 over allegations of plagiarism, did not come out of thin air. It was, instead, at least partly the product of an opposition research dossier that was, in all likelihood, produced or funded by her enemies."
You are right in that emotions are razor-sharp. With multiple moving parts, it is difficult to avoid conflating the issues which are deep and complex.
I see the world losing the thread that unequivocally states that crimes against humanity such as rape, mutilation and massacre cannot be used as tools to admit oneself to the bargaining table. The reasons should be obvious.
This is awful bullshit, Claire. Gay plagiarized text and ideas from others, not by mistake. Entire paragraphs and pages. In one such instance she stole hundreds of words directly from a previous study, and changed one word only: "decreased" to "increased." Have you not read the side-by-side comparisons published in multiple sources? Shame on you for using euphemisms such as "duplicative text" or arguing that she simply "forgot" to include quotations marks in dozens of instances. All over her dissertation and three -- only three -- articles. Forgot, my ass.
Of course I read it. Don’t give me your condescending “actually.”
You wrote that she was railroaded.
Claudine Gay was not railroaded.
If you want to use that metaphor: she laid the tracks, started up the locomotive, and ran over herself.
You cited a few examples of minor plagiarism, and ignored the vast catalog of stealing, word for word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and idea by idea.
It is truly risible that she changed “increased” to “decreased.” Defend that, Claire.
It does not matter who discovered, exposed, and published Gay’s pernicious academic fraud, whether it was Rufo, Ackman, the NY Post, or the Harvard Crimson.
McWhorter was and is right. Even he walked it back a little bit recently, writing that we should create and use a better word than “plagiarism.”
I think Claire, that this is one of your best columns that I’ve read, and it’s helpful to have lucid, righteous rage expressed.
Brilliant on multiple registers … thank you Claire.
Nailed it, Claire. Bravo.
Excellent, Claire! My colleague, Moustafa Baloumi, called this maneuver, "Throwing a dead cat on the table." I used this image in my blog on War on Campus.
Thank you, Claire. I was trying to figure out my objection to McWhorter’s woefully misguided column. And here, you’ve done it for me. I don’t feel like a lonely curmudgeon now.
Another terrific colum. But we are in a sad situation when simply stating truths is enough to make for great commentary.
Your columns are getting better and better. They were always good, but your\ are relly nailing them. You also did at the AHA. Ackman's wife is not only accused of plagirism but as I understand got Epstein mi ey for his bogus MIT schemes. The Republicans don't care. Its all about power.P,ease keep it up.
I agree that people are perhaps more aware of and enraged by crimes against humanity that at any point in modern history.
But, there’s no table.
Great piece Claire- esp. your taking on McWorther. And @BonnieAnderson citing Moustafa Baloumi "Throwing a dead cat on the table" so, so apropos.
The Harvard Corporation abandoned Claudine Gay. That it did so was an example of worst practices in governance. They did great harm to higher education- and Harvard University. Theirs was an unforced error.
Where I diverge from your narrative is with regard to the role the GOP played in Gay’s demise. I don't think the GOP put the nail in Claudine Gay's coffin. I don't ascribe it solely to racsim either- though I have zero doubt that Claudine Gay as a Black woman made for a easy target for her white persecutors. Racism is systemic- and Boston is the most racist big cities in America. Opposition to Claudine Gay because she was a presumptive beneficiary of DEI smacks me as dog whistle racism 101. More on Bill Ackman.
Gay was taken down by another ism.....Zionism. The shrieks of antisemitism from Jewish students on campuses and wealthy alumni provoked a non-partisan pile-on by Zionists. In the aftermath of the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7th, three Palestinian collegians have been shot in Vermont and a Palestinan-America toddler was murdered in Chicago and his mother survived an attempt to stab her to death. They were not Jewish. Meanwhile the Jewish state of Israel is engaged in an ongoing slaughter of civilians in Gaza- children- and the world is watching on our phones. That Jewish college students feel unsettled and unsafe is a sad realtity, but it should come as a surprise to none. It’s an especially ugly time for humanity. The world is hurting as we reckon with what is taking place. Emotions are razor-sharp. In this environment Zionists have sought to weaponize trauma to silence and shame. Though it is not working as they hoped, Claudine Gay had a target on her back and she was eliminated.
Claudine Gay had no ICJ before which she could plead her case. Her downfall was never about plagiarism. I always felt as if it was only a matter of time, even after the Board had initially stood behind her. Penny Pritzker should be ashamed and she should resign. But not because she was part of hiring Claudine Gay, but because I do not believe she protected Claudine Gay.
Harvard alumni Bill Ackman- an avowed Zionist- has unleashed unbridled vitriol over the counter-narrative emerging globally in opposition to Israel's massacre of civilians and and its apartheid occupation of Palestine. He may say DEI, but that's his dead cat on the table. Ackman's tradecraft as a billionaire hedge fund warlord is to route his enemies by deploying costly and sophisticated PR, oppo research, and private investigators as he seeks to bid up his investment positions. While mainstream MAGA types like Christopher Rufo broke the Claudine Gay plagarism story they didn't create the content. It was leaked- artfully placed. Bedrock to MAGA- and the GOP- is Zionism. I imagine Donald Trump would claim to be a Zionist but I'd bet it would be purely out of political expediency with his evangelical base. Joe Biden is simply a Zionist.
I recommend all to check out Lee Fang's Substack- which I stumbled across the other day. We shall, hopefully, learn more from his exposé regarding Claudine Gay’s unraveling than any of us can speculate. He claims to have the receipts. Here’s an excerpt from his first article (January 4th) on the dossier he obtained:
"The rapid downfall of Claudine Gay, the former president of Harvard University, who resigned on January 2 over allegations of plagiarism, did not come out of thin air. It was, instead, at least partly the product of an opposition research dossier that was, in all likelihood, produced or funded by her enemies."
You are right in that emotions are razor-sharp. With multiple moving parts, it is difficult to avoid conflating the issues which are deep and complex.
I see the world losing the thread that unequivocally states that crimes against humanity such as rape, mutilation and massacre cannot be used as tools to admit oneself to the bargaining table. The reasons should be obvious.
Talk about sticking the landing. Excellent! It's just too bad it was necessary to say.
Such a telling column! I hadn’t thought of the Hillary’s emails parallel, but yes, you’re right about that and so much more. Thanks
This is awful bullshit, Claire. Gay plagiarized text and ideas from others, not by mistake. Entire paragraphs and pages. In one such instance she stole hundreds of words directly from a previous study, and changed one word only: "decreased" to "increased." Have you not read the side-by-side comparisons published in multiple sources? Shame on you for using euphemisms such as "duplicative text" or arguing that she simply "forgot" to include quotations marks in dozens of instances. All over her dissertation and three -- only three -- articles. Forgot, my ass.
Did you actually read the post? Because it wasn't a defense of plagiarism.
Of course I read it. Don’t give me your condescending “actually.”
You wrote that she was railroaded.
Claudine Gay was not railroaded.
If you want to use that metaphor: she laid the tracks, started up the locomotive, and ran over herself.
You cited a few examples of minor plagiarism, and ignored the vast catalog of stealing, word for word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and idea by idea.
It is truly risible that she changed “increased” to “decreased.” Defend that, Claire.
It does not matter who discovered, exposed, and published Gay’s pernicious academic fraud, whether it was Rufo, Ackman, the NY Post, or the Harvard Crimson.
McWhorter was and is right. Even he walked it back a little bit recently, writing that we should create and use a better word than “plagiarism.”
Good lord. What an angry person you are.
As does one Bill Ackmann. Who wants to burn it to the ground.
Which would make the whole world and Civilization safer.