Harvard faculty are calling on members of the university’s highest governing board to resign amid plagiarism accusations against the university’s president and reputational damage to the school, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Harvard President Claudine Gay refused to say if calling for genocide violated the university’s code of conduct during a Dec. 5 congressional hearing, and she had been accused of multiple incidents of plagiarism. While the Harvard Corporation unanimously stood behind Gay, several professors said that the board mishandled the situation and should step down, according to the WSJ. (RELATED: Harvard President Requests Even More Corrections To Her Academic Work As Plagiarism Accusations Mount)
“The big question now is, how arrogant is Harvard? And when I say Harvard, I mean the Harvard Corporation. Do they think this is going to go away?” Kit Parker, professor of bioengineering and applied physics, told the WSJ while also saying that the members should resign.
People walk through Harvard Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 12, 2023. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
Gay is the first black president of Harvard, which was celebrated by the university when she was appointed, but now is adding more pressure to the situation, according to the WSJ.
“It’s a risky choice to elevate somebody who has not had years and years of experience in a presidential or presidential-like role,” Jennifer Hochschild, a professor of government and African and African-American Studies and supporter of Gay, told the WSJ.
“She’s become a symbol of a movement and if she has to resign, that sends a terrible signal. So it’s just a no-win situation here,” Jeffrey Fredberg, a professor of bioengineering and physiology at Harvard’s school of public health, told the WSJ.
More plagiarism allegations have risen since the Harvard Corporation’s Dec. 12 letter, and Gay has issued several corrections to her academic works and requested additional corrections.
“They’re under pressure, that’s obvious,” former Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Flier, told the WSJ. “They are the fiduciary body and no one will deny that Harvard’s reputation has taken a very substantial hit in the world … It’s on their watch that it’s happening.”
Harvard did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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