Dem
51
GOP
49
Is there any aphorism that better captures the spirit of schadenfreude than "those in glass houses should not throw stones"? If there is, we can't think of it.
In any event, like many outlets, we have given a fair bit of attention to the ouster of Harvard president Claudine Gay. She badly fumbled her congressional testimony on antisemitism on campus, but appeared to be weathering the storm, up to and including a statement of support from Harvard's Board of Overseers. So, Gay's opponents/enemies changed tactics, and shifted the focus to her history of plagiarism. Low-level plagiarism, but plagiarism nonetheless. That did the trick, as she fell on her sword earlier this week.
As we have noted, the fellow who was orchestrating things behind the scenes was billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman (in partnership with right-wing provocateur Christopher Rufo). Ackman is not only angry about the antisemitism on campus, but he also has other grudges with Harvard, and also with MIT (whose president, Sally Kornbluth, was also raked over the coals by members of the House). Ackman's specific grudge with MIT involves his wife, Neri Oxman, who was not sufficiently promoted in her view and in the view of her husband, and so quit the school.
Ackman never produced a scholarly monograph, of course, as that is not a part of the career path he chose. But his wife certainly did. And guess who else turns out to have a plagiarism problem? Yup, as reader R.M.S. in Lebanon, CT, brings to our attention, Neri Oxman has been caught, having plagiarized portions of her dissertation. The pattern is almost identical to Gay's plagiarism—not massive, just an occasional paragraph here and there.
We must admit that, as academics, we don't get it. Sure, you are more likely to get away with a dash of cheating rather than a heaping barrelful, but it's no guarantee (as Gay and Oxman have shown), and is it really worth the risk to spare yourself a few hours' work? Plus, who wants to use someone else's words to express what they are thinking? If you don't think YOUR words are the best option for expressing YOUR ideas, then you probably shouldn't be writing a dissertation in the first place.
In any event, we don't foresee an apology to Gay forthcoming from the Ackmans. Indeed, we don't even foresee Ackman getting off his high horse and ending his crusade, since he's already signaled he still wants to take down Kornbluth. (Hm. All his targets are women. Interesting.) Just remember that whatever line of attack he unveils in upcoming weeks, it's just a screen, and he almost certainly doesn't really care about whatever issue he claims to care about. Put another way, as The Guardian's Moira Donegan points out, the campaign against Gay had nothing to do with plagiarism.
And note that we think Ackman really does care about the antisemitism. However, attacking Kornbluth on that front hasn't worked, so he's going to have to invent something else in order to achieve the goals he wants to achieve and to settle the scores he wants to settle. That's going to be the phony stuff. (Z)