I was inspired by Loury’s use of the word “greatness”. But why? I realized that the past five years of my life have been apart from an unprecedented adventure; a failed search for greatness within my profession- a profession that I had placed on a pedestal for three decades. Because I have a very loud mouth combined with stubbornness/determination; I get to be among those who advance forward developmentally. I worry for the mental health of silent colleagues who are either fearful or brainwashed.
There's an argument to be had about whether Claudine Gay was a good hire. Lots of people have weighted in on this, including Glenn and John, so I'll sidestep that issue.
Claudine Gay's position became untenable because Harvard's reputation was taking a big hit on her watch. As a friend said to me, "Nobody's bigger than Harvard." She had to go.
Here are a few examples:
1. Billionaire and Harvard graduate Len Blavatnik froze his donations to Harvard in the wake of Gay's testimony before Congress:
2. Applications for early admissions fell by 17%. It's hard to know how much of the dip is attributable to charges of antisemitism on campus, but it's worth noting that none of Harvard's peers suffered a similar drop:
4. A student on Harvard's Honor Council penned an anonymous column for the Harvard Crimson indicating that students proved to have committed similar instances of plagiarism would have faced harsher sanctions than Claudine Gay had received before she resigned:
5. Board members of the Corporation were getting an ear full about Claudine Gay from their friends and family members during the holiday break. That seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back according to reporting from the NY Times:
Hi Greg! I have read your comments three times to try to understand how you arrived at your point of view. I am making progress but I will probably have to read it again!
I don’t feel sympathy for Dr. Gay or Mr. Ackman. I believe she failed in her duty to protect ALL the students in her care. I do believe in freedom of speech but that too has to be defended for ALL students. I was happy she resigned and hope the next president honors his/her responsibilities to ALL the students.
Plagiarism was just the excuse, the real issue was DEI turning on Jews, undermining Israel's war effort and snowballing into antisemitism. Ackman was the real driver of this IMO. Claudine Gay would still be employed if Harvard colored within the lines and just stuck to dumping on white Republicans. I find Gay sympathetic here, Ackman the real villain.
In Marvel Comics they have something called "The Multiverse" where different stories involving the same characters that seem otherwise contradictory are written (e.g., Peter Parker dies as a teen, Peter Parker dies in old age) but it's all okay because we suspend belief in the Multiverse. That's exactly what guys like Ackman are betting on to "fix" Harvard: not a revival of liberal culture or free speech, but a "multiverse" play (e.g., Jews are now non-white) to preserve what's left of Obama's minority coalition. It's all so cynical...
Also, to some extent Harvard is downstream of law. The DEI issue is *really about excesses and failures of the Civil Rights Movement IMO, because that's what created the Multiverse we now live in. CRM = Multiverse.
DEI isn't a radical departure of the 1960's but rather the 1960's at maturity. After 50+ years of mismanagement and corruption, where institutional legitimacy comes from achievements re: social progress (sex, race, gender); but bureaucratic continuity is based on there being no progress. You can't be both the disease and the cure, which is why I think the legacy of the 60's is so complicated.
IDK, I find Claudine Gay the sympathetic figure here. You see how transactional leftwing race politics is with her firing, and I think it's wrong. I hope Trump makes her VP. Lesss go!
I had thought that Harvard’s self-interest in image would set a high bar of expectation for candidates. I also want to blame Gay’s graduate school mentors. I only completed a Master’s degree. But, upon completing my program; I felt as if any work that I would produce would need to survive scrutiny from The Supreme Court.
I love listening or reading the two of you. The beauty of integrity and color doesnt factor into that. You both have so much integrity. My heart warms reading your thoughts.
Thank you Glenn and John for the thoughtful discussion of the Claudine Gay situation and its meaning. One element that might have been stressed more was the importance of role models in academia (and life for that matter). I was fortunate in finding a mentor whose own work was all about the quest for truth through the scientific method (without denying the role of intuition and curiosity). He was tough but fair. He provided a wonderful role model that helped me not only in my own career, first in academia and later in Silicon Valley. What kind of role model is Claudine Gay providing to her students? Who were her role models? Sadly, it seems that DEI is helping to make the old fashioned truth-seeking academic a dying breed (Glenn and John excepted).
If a doctoral student at Harvard does what Gay did for their dissertation, they will not be graduated and likely asked to leave. Therefore she was an automatic gots to go situation.
"Ralph Luker questioned whether King's professors at the Crozer Theological Seminary held him to lower standards because he was Black, citing as evidence the fact that King received lower marks (a C+ average) at the historically black Morehouse College than at Crozer, where he was a minority being graded mostly by white teachers and received an A− average.[7][11] Boston University has denied that King received any special treatment."
MLK proved to be a capable leader. I prefer MLK's influence on American culture over Claudine Gay's approach, for sure, but it seems they both plagiarized.
Using someone else’s “boilerplate” is still theft. They wrote it. Gay pickpocketed it. The original author had to labor to write it. Gay did not. And did she make sure the original authors were credited fully?
That is an entirely fair point and I am glad I do not have to infer it. My version was that even if the president of Harvard is a role model for no one outside the Harvard community Harvard is saying to the people who look up to Claudine Gay that this is what they should aspire to.
If I put on my "other side" hat I say "What about Clarence Thomas when he was nominated?" Thomas has become a historic figure because of the very long time he has spent on the Court which may have brought him its own discipline in writing and thinking. (I have registered for Glenn's event tomorrow)
I was inspired by Loury’s use of the word “greatness”. But why? I realized that the past five years of my life have been apart from an unprecedented adventure; a failed search for greatness within my profession- a profession that I had placed on a pedestal for three decades. Because I have a very loud mouth combined with stubbornness/determination; I get to be among those who advance forward developmentally. I worry for the mental health of silent colleagues who are either fearful or brainwashed.
There's an argument to be had about whether Claudine Gay was a good hire. Lots of people have weighted in on this, including Glenn and John, so I'll sidestep that issue.
Claudine Gay's position became untenable because Harvard's reputation was taking a big hit on her watch. As a friend said to me, "Nobody's bigger than Harvard." She had to go.
Here are a few examples:
1. Billionaire and Harvard graduate Len Blavatnik froze his donations to Harvard in the wake of Gay's testimony before Congress:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/22/investing/billionaire-harvard-donor-blavatnik/index.html
2. Applications for early admissions fell by 17%. It's hard to know how much of the dip is attributable to charges of antisemitism on campus, but it's worth noting that none of Harvard's peers suffered a similar drop:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/15/business/harvard-early-applications/index.html
3. Progressive columnists such as Ruth Marcus at the Washington Post called for Gay's resignation, as did John McWhorter in a NY Times column:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/23/claudine-gay-harvard-resign-plagiarism/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/opinion/harvard-claudine-gay.html
4. A student on Harvard's Honor Council penned an anonymous column for the Harvard Crimson indicating that students proved to have committed similar instances of plagiarism would have faced harsher sanctions than Claudine Gay had received before she resigned:
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/12/31/honor-council-member-gay/
5. Board members of the Corporation were getting an ear full about Claudine Gay from their friends and family members during the holiday break. That seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back according to reporting from the NY Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/business/claudine-gay-harvard-corporation-board.html
There wasn't one thing that catalyzed Claudine Gay's resignation. It was an accumulation of things instead.
Hi Greg! I have read your comments three times to try to understand how you arrived at your point of view. I am making progress but I will probably have to read it again!
I don’t feel sympathy for Dr. Gay or Mr. Ackman. I believe she failed in her duty to protect ALL the students in her care. I do believe in freedom of speech but that too has to be defended for ALL students. I was happy she resigned and hope the next president honors his/her responsibilities to ALL the students.
Plagiarism was just the excuse, the real issue was DEI turning on Jews, undermining Israel's war effort and snowballing into antisemitism. Ackman was the real driver of this IMO. Claudine Gay would still be employed if Harvard colored within the lines and just stuck to dumping on white Republicans. I find Gay sympathetic here, Ackman the real villain.
In Marvel Comics they have something called "The Multiverse" where different stories involving the same characters that seem otherwise contradictory are written (e.g., Peter Parker dies as a teen, Peter Parker dies in old age) but it's all okay because we suspend belief in the Multiverse. That's exactly what guys like Ackman are betting on to "fix" Harvard: not a revival of liberal culture or free speech, but a "multiverse" play (e.g., Jews are now non-white) to preserve what's left of Obama's minority coalition. It's all so cynical...
Also, to some extent Harvard is downstream of law. The DEI issue is *really about excesses and failures of the Civil Rights Movement IMO, because that's what created the Multiverse we now live in. CRM = Multiverse.
DEI isn't a radical departure of the 1960's but rather the 1960's at maturity. After 50+ years of mismanagement and corruption, where institutional legitimacy comes from achievements re: social progress (sex, race, gender); but bureaucratic continuity is based on there being no progress. You can't be both the disease and the cure, which is why I think the legacy of the 60's is so complicated.
IDK, I find Claudine Gay the sympathetic figure here. You see how transactional leftwing race politics is with her firing, and I think it's wrong. I hope Trump makes her VP. Lesss go!
People should be plagiarizing the Harvard President, not vis-versa. I am not condoning plagiarism, but simply making a point.
Okay Dr. Loury, we’ve preordered your book. Can’t wait to start reading in May!
don’t think Carol Swain would like John’s kid glove treatment of Gay. I’m curious how John would feel if someone plagiarized his work and used it to gain the keys to the kingdom? https://www.wsj.com/articles/claudine-gay-and-my-scholarship-plagiarism-elite-system-unearned-position-24e4a1b1
I had thought that Harvard’s self-interest in image would set a high bar of expectation for candidates. I also want to blame Gay’s graduate school mentors. I only completed a Master’s degree. But, upon completing my program; I felt as if any work that I would produce would need to survive scrutiny from The Supreme Court.
I love listening or reading the two of you. The beauty of integrity and color doesnt factor into that. You both have so much integrity. My heart warms reading your thoughts.
Thank you Glenn and John for the thoughtful discussion of the Claudine Gay situation and its meaning. One element that might have been stressed more was the importance of role models in academia (and life for that matter). I was fortunate in finding a mentor whose own work was all about the quest for truth through the scientific method (without denying the role of intuition and curiosity). He was tough but fair. He provided a wonderful role model that helped me not only in my own career, first in academia and later in Silicon Valley. What kind of role model is Claudine Gay providing to her students? Who were her role models? Sadly, it seems that DEI is helping to make the old fashioned truth-seeking academic a dying breed (Glenn and John excepted).
If a doctoral student at Harvard does what Gay did for their dissertation, they will not be graduated and likely asked to leave. Therefore she was an automatic gots to go situation.
Black privilege card canceled.
Next.
MLK apparently plagiarized, too, allegedly borrowing speech material as well as doctoral research material. From Wikipedia:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr._authorship_issues):
"Ralph Luker questioned whether King's professors at the Crozer Theological Seminary held him to lower standards because he was Black, citing as evidence the fact that King received lower marks (a C+ average) at the historically black Morehouse College than at Crozer, where he was a minority being graded mostly by white teachers and received an A− average.[7][11] Boston University has denied that King received any special treatment."
MLK proved to be a capable leader. I prefer MLK's influence on American culture over Claudine Gay's approach, for sure, but it seems they both plagiarized.
Using someone else’s “boilerplate” is still theft. They wrote it. Gay pickpocketed it. The original author had to labor to write it. Gay did not. And did she make sure the original authors were credited fully?
true about faust but what about bacow? just seemed like a career bureaucrat when i googled him
That is an entirely fair point and I am glad I do not have to infer it. My version was that even if the president of Harvard is a role model for no one outside the Harvard community Harvard is saying to the people who look up to Claudine Gay that this is what they should aspire to.
If I put on my "other side" hat I say "What about Clarence Thomas when he was nominated?" Thomas has become a historic figure because of the very long time he has spent on the Court which may have brought him its own discipline in writing and thinking. (I have registered for Glenn's event tomorrow)