Harvard facing mounting internal pressure to oust Claudine Gay, says Chris Rufo

Harvard is facing mounting pressure to oust President Claudine Gay over numerous plagiarism allegations, with faculty of the Ivy League institution said to be joining the calls for her removal.

In the New York Times Thursday, Columbia University professor John McWhorter said the scandal had reached its "tipping point" and it was time for Gay to step down. If she stayed, Gay would be tarnishing the elite school's reputation as well as showing that it held a "double standard" for Black academics, the Times columnist argued.

Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo detailed his take on the accusations during "The Ingraham Angle," arguing Harvard should remove her from her post to show that it values the "truth" over the far-left-DEI agenda. 

"The evidence is damning. Harvard President Claudine Gay has committed 40 instances of plagiarism spanning three decades from her Ph.D. thesis at the beginning of her career, all the way to her final academic paper before becoming dean and then president," Rufo told Laura Ingraham on Thursday. 

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"All of her work from start to finish contains this kind of material, and so the facts are clear."

"Now the decision that has to be made is a very simple one. Does Harvard value Veritas or Truth or does Harvard value DEI And having the right race and gender symbolism at the top of its university hierarchy?" he asked.

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Dr. Carol Swain, a retired Vanderbilt University professor whose work was allegedly plagiarized by Gay, called for her immediate firing on Thursday to "steer the university back towards sanity."

Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley has also called for Gay's ouster in an opinion piece this week. Like McWhorter, he acknowledged the university could be accused of racism for letting Gay go, but argued that by keeping Gay they risked revealing how their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hiring criteria "lowers standards."

Gay has been accused of more than 40 instances of plagiarism as reported by the Washington Free Beacon. It reported Harvard "received a complaint outlining over 40 allegations of plagiarism" against Gay on Tuesday, noting a letter was sent to Harvard's research integrity officer, Stacey Springs, outlining the claims.

But this isn't the first controversy Gay has faced in recent weeks. 

CAMBRIDGE, MA - DECEMBER 13: Harvard President Claudine Gay (2nd L) attends a menorah lighting ceremony on the seventh night of Hanukkah with the University's Jewish community on December 13, 2023, in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Harvard trustees voted to keep President Gay after she responded to a Congressional hearing with an answer to a question about hate speech on campus.  (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

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The outrage over the alleged plagiarism comes after Gay refused to say whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard's policies during a congressional hearing. Despite the outcry over her controversial testimony, Harvard Corporation, the school’s highest governing body, announced earlier this month it would stand by Gay.

The Harvard Corporation released a summary of a review Wednesday evening saying Gay will request three corrections from Harvard’s Office of the Provost regarding her 1997 Ph.D. dissertation, The Harvard Crimson reported. 

Through additional review, Harvard said it found two additional instances of "duplicative language without appropriate attribution."

Rufo said behind the scenes, the university is facing mounting pressure to oust Gay from her post as many faculty members also want her removed. 

Rufo said many Harvard scholars are afraid to oppose Gay, fearing their careers will be ruined.

"A lot of people, even on the faculty at Harvard, they know it's plagiarism," Rufo said. "They know it's wrong. They know she needs to go, but they remain silent because she wields tremendous power and she rules in a Machiavellian manner."

Fox News' David Rutz, Brian Flood and Kristine Parks contributed to this report. 

Bailee Hill is an associate editor with Fox News Digital. Story ideas can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.