Harvard didn't review Gay's scholarly work during search for president: Report
The Harvard Corporation did not conduct a review of former President Claudine Gay's scholarly work because of her lengthy experience at the institution as an administrator, according to a report.
The Harvard Corporation did not conduct a review of former President Claudine Gay’s scholarly work because of her lengthy experience at the institution as an administrator, according to a report.
The Harvard Crimson reported that the Harvard Corporation hired Gay as its 30th president without a scholarly review of her work, citing a person familiar with the process.
Instead of focusing on Gay’s scholarly work, which The Crimson considers thin, the Harvard Corporation preferred Gay’s administrative experience and expertise over two other candidates who had a more extensive scholarship record.
According to the report, the Harvard Corporation passed on two internal candidates who had more extensive scholarship credentials and administrative experience, Tomiko Brown-Nagin and John F. Manning.
Brown-Nagin is the dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute and received the 2023 Order of the Coif Award while Manning is the dean of Harvard’s law school and has argued nine cases at the U.S. Supreme Court.
A source familiar with the process told the Harvard Crimson that Gay’s bid for president was bolstered by her previous position as a senior administrator on campus, something the Harvard Corporation thought highly of, and was part of the decision to not do a comprehensive review of her scholarly work.
Interestingly, a source close to the search for a Harvard president in 2022 said the committee felt that the next Harvard president should be widely known as an outstanding scholar.
Gay faced intense scrutiny for her comments during a December 2023 Congressional hearing, which was amplified by accusations of plagiarism.
The Harvard Corporation would find in an internal investigation that Gay’s scholarly work contained “duplicative language,” prompting the former Harvard President to make seven corrections in two academic articles and her Ph.D. dissertation.
Gay resigned as President of Harvard on Jan. 2, but still serves as a professor, as Campus Reform reported.
