Harvard president faces accusations of plagiarism amid calls to resign

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (NewsNation) — Embattled Harvard University President Dr. Claudine Gay is now being accused of plagiarism.

A political scientist claims she did not get credit in the Ph.D. thesis that helped Gay land the top spot in the Ivy League.

This comes just after the university board reaffirmed its support of Gay, who was being pressured to resign over Capitol Hill testimony where she didn’t outright condemn antisemitism on campus.

Dr. Carol Swain, a political scientist and legal scholar, told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert Tuesday night that Harvard was trying to protect Gay.

“There’s no question that she committed plagiarism. There are some Harvard faculty members who are trying to redefine what is plagiarism,” Swain said.

This all comes in the wake of antisemitism backlash that has caused chaos on university campuses.

Students at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology say tensions on the campuses have been high as protests and demonstrations happen almost daily and the leaders of the schools have been under pressure to resign.

Campuses across the nation have become free-speech battlegrounds.

“I would say things are pretty tense. A lot of people are frustrated on both sides,” MIT student Tamilore Fashae said.

Anti-war, antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiments are at an all-time high since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel.

“I’d say probably everybody is a little stressed, on edge; but with stressful situations, you see the community come together,” Harvard sophomore Ben Willhite said.

A week ago, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, Gay and MIT President Sally Kornbluth sat through a blistering four-hour congressional hearing concerning antisemitism on campus.

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik asked the leaders repeatedly if calling for the genocide of Jews violated their schools’ codes of conduct.

But all three of the president’s responses faced public backlash for coming off as antisemitic. The three women faced demands for their immediate resignations from lawmakers and wealthy donors who called the testimony disgraceful and embarrassing.

Magill voluntarily submitted her resignation on Saturday, while Harvard and MIT rallied behind Gay and Kornbluth.

Harvard’s highest governing board announced Tuesday that members voted unanimously to back Gay.

In a statement, the Harvard Corporation wrote, ”Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issue we are facing.”

Still, Stefanik — a Harvard alum — is determined to get Gay ousted.

“This is a moral failure to Harvard’s leadership and higher education leadership at the highest levels,” Stefanik said.

Students say although the presidents should have leaned into a more moral point of view on the antisemitism issue, it should not be a fireable offense.

“I think it was a challenging place to be and she responded well given the circumstances.” MIT student Adam Gilbert-Diamond said.

Gay has apologized for her testimony last week and says she will remain committed to fighting antisemitism here on campus.