They’ve ignored the elephant in the room with this Crimson Editorial Board opinion column – no mention of the plagiarism issues: Harvard and President Gay Must Not Yield | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson (thecrimson.com)

Congressional hearings over antisemitism on campuses have led to allegations of Congress interfering in campus autonomy. Technically, under the First Amendment, anyone, including Congressional members, has a right to ask questions and say nasty things. Indeed, that is Harvard’s own defense for not defusing antisemitism groups on campus.

Separately, however, there are serious allegations of plagiarism made against the University President where several groups found entire paragraphs and sentences copied from the work of others, and often uncited. These sections of copied text were found in her PhD thesis and in at least 4 published papers. More here: Harvard: secret plagiarism probe into president Claudine Gay (nypost.com)

I have taught dozens of college and university courses, and these appear to be in violation campus student conduct guidelines.

In an undergraduate course, this would result in a significant reduction in grade, or an F on the paper, and at some colleges, an F in the course. Serial plagiarism (also known as cheating) could result in expulsion. The use of uncited quotes in a PhD thesis would be treated harshly, and the use of uncited quotes in published papers, would have serious consequences. At a minimum, these examples of uncited work suggest poor scholarship skills.

Saying this level of plagiarism – by a university President – is of no concern, is telling students everywhere that stealing the work of others, and pretending it is your own, is an acceptable practice.

A Harvard degree no longer means much. Other than it establishes oneself as a member of the elite – and to whom traditional rules do not apply – like rules against plagiarism.