Harvard president Claudine Gay facing new plagiarism accusations

Harvard University President Claudine Gay is facing new plagiarism accusations as the news media and conservative activists scrutinize the academic record of the leader of America’s oldest university.

An internal review from Harvard Wednesday night announced that while her actions did not rise to the level of serious wrongdoing under the university’s rules, Gay still used "duplicative language without proper attribution" in the writing of her 1997 dissertation, according to the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. The university told the paper that Gay, who earned her doctorate from Harvard in political science, would submit three additional corrections to her dissertation in response.

Harvard did not respond to a POLITICO request for comment on the allegations.

A review by CNN also found that the embattled university administrator had lifted language from other scholars and writers in essays she published as a graduate student pursuing her PhD at Harvard and in other articles published during her time as a professor there.

Gay, the first woman of color to lead the storied university, has come under broader scrutiny, particularly from conservative activists, as Israel’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas has exacerbated tensions on campus. Her testimony about free speech rights on campus at a congressional hearing earlier this month was widely pilloried as overly legalistic and apologetic for pro-Palestinian rhetoric deemed by some as antisemitic.

On Wednesday, the House Education and Workforce Committee announced it would examine the plagiarism allegations against Gay as part of their broader investigation into Harvard.

The university is standing by Gay. In a statement last week, the Harvard Corporation, which oversees the university, stated that in “this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay.”