Dispatches
1) Douglas Murray, “Claudine Gay has exposed the rot at the heart of the woke establishment; The former Harvard president failed to stand up against racism. The BBC and the Left are bizarrely treating her as the victim,” The Telegraph, January 3, 2024 (7:47 pm);
2) Maureen Farrell and Rob Copeland, “How Harvard’s Board Broke Up With Claudine Gay; Facing intense pressure, it went from standing behind her as the university’s president to pushing her out within weeks,” New York Times, January 6, 2024 (7:40 am ET);
UPDATE
3) Jennifer Wilton, “Niall Ferguson (Interview): ‘Dann wird diese Welt überhaupt nicht mehr existieren, sie wird zerfallen,'” Die Welt, den 8. Januar 2024;
4) Jennifer Wilton,”Niall Ferguson (Interview): ‘Then this world will no longer exist at all, it will disintegrate,'” Die Welt, January 8, 2024;
Analysis
The plagiarism charge, and ample evidence of plagiarism, is what forced Claudine’s resignation as President of Harvard University.
Elise Stefanik’s ambush of the presidents of Harvard Penn and M.I.T. on December 12, 2033 revealed what a vile politician Stefanik is, and her utter lack of principle in trying to generate headlines and controversy that will serve the campaign narratives of the authoritarian Republican party controlled by Donald Trump.
Many who opposed Dr. Gay on other grounds joined the mob calling for her ouster.
The Harvard Corporation rightly refused to fire her because she answered Stefanik’s theatical questions with a succinct statement of the Constitutional law of free speech in the U.S.
What were Stefanik and the Republicans doing anyway conducting hearings into the conduct of presidents and administrations at leading private universities in the U.S.?
The plagiarism charge is the one that stuck. It was a clear indictment of the president of Harvard for conduct that could not be ignored–although at first the Corporation did its best to do so.