Associated Press calls plagiarism ‘new conservative weapon’ after Harvard president scandal

The Associated Press is the subject of sharp conservative scorn after it suggested plagiarism was a "new weapon" for conservatives after Claudine Gay stepped down as the president of Harvard following plagiarism allegations.

"Harvard president’s resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism," an AP headline read on Wednesday. A spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the piece was not up to standards and is in the process of being updated. It has since changed its headline to "Plagiarism charges downed Harvard’s president. A conservative attack helped to fan the outrage."

Gay also faced widespread criticism over her response to a question at a congressional hearing about whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard's code of conduct. Gay initially said it depended on the "context," before issuing an apology. 

The Associated Press article was mocked on X, formerly known as Twitter, and its text and hostile framing against conservatives received several community notes.

The Associated Press published a headline on Wednesday that suggested "plagiarism" was a weapon for conservatives after Harvard president Claudine Gay resigned on Tuesday. (Left:  (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images), Circle: (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images))

EMBATTLED HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY HIT WITH MORE PLAGIARISM CHARGES

Like other liberal outlets, the AP was troubled by the messengers in the case of Gay's ouster.

"In Gay’s case, many academics were troubled with how the plagiarism came to light: as part of a coordinated campaign to discredit Gay and force her from office, in part because of her involvement in efforts for racial justice on campus," the AP reported. "The campaign against Gay and other Ivy League presidents has become part of a broader right-wing effort to remake higher education, which has often been seen as a bastion of liberalism. Republican detractors have sought to gut funding for public universities, roll back tenure and banish initiatives that make colleges more welcoming to students of color, disabled students and the LGBTQ+ community. They also have aimed to limit how race and gender are discussed in classrooms."

It did acknowledge, "Reviews by conservative activists and then by a Harvard committee did find multiple shortcomings in Gay’s academic citations. In dozens of instances first published by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website, Gay’s work includes long stretches of prose that mirror language from other published works."

The AP has a page about its news values and principles where it says it's unacceptable for its reporters to plagiarize.

"An AP staffer who reports and writes a story must use original content, language and phrasing. We do not plagiarize, meaning that we do not take the work of others and pass it off as our own," the site says.

CNN political commentator Scott Jennings mocked the AP headline and wrote that it was "remarkable" conservatives "had the time to invent the concept of plagiarism over the last couple months."

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Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., wondered what The AP would have published if Gay was "a male, Asian, white, outspoken Christian, or Republican."

Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle said the AP "buried the lede" and added, "the GOP stole this weapon from colleges, which for years punished people for plagiarism with little to no input from conservatives."

At another point in the text, the AP scolded conservative activist Christopher Rufo, who helped expose the allegations against Gay, for using the term "SCALPED." The report called it a "gruesome practice taken up by White colonists who sought to eradicate Native Americans."

Gay announced her resignation in a letter to the Harvard community on Tuesday, which said she would be staying on faculty at the university. She wrote that "racial animus" was fueling "personal attacks" against her.

Dr. Claudine Gay, President of Harvard University, Liz Magill, President of University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Pamela Nadell, Professor of History and Jewish Studies at American University, and Dr. Sally Kornbluth, President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on December 05, 2023 in Washington, DC.  ((Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images))

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"Amidst all of this, it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor—two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am—and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus," she said.

Ibram X. Kendi, an author and founder of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, argued that the AP headline was "journalism." 

"Getting closer to what truly happened and why," he wrote on X.

The Associated Press noted that plagiarism was "a cardinal sin in academia," before declaring it to be a "weapon" for conservatives. 

People walk through the gate on Harvard Yard at the Harvard University campus on June 29, 2023 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  (Getty Images)

"The plagiarism allegations came not from her academic peers but her political foes, led by conservatives who sought to oust Gay and put her career under intense scrutiny in hopes of finding a fatal flaw," the AP reported.

The Associated Press did not respond to a request for comment. 

Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.