Black women at Harvard accused of plagiarism to attack DEI programs, supporter says

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Four Black women at Harvard University, including Harvard's first Black president, Claudine Gay, has been - have been accused of plagiarism by right-wing activists in recent months. Gay resigned as president in January under pressure that was compounded by her congressional testimony about confronting antisemitism on campus. Critics have also used plagiarism allegations to raise doubts about campus policies on diversity, equity and inclusion. Phillip Martin of member station GBH in Boston reports.

PHILLIP MARTIN, BYLINE: Karen Mapp, a professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, has never been targeted. But she wonders aloud when they might come for her. Professor Mapp's reference to they is to right-wing activists, who have leveled what she terms selective accusations of plagiarism against four Black women at Harvard.

KAREN MAPP: Why is it only Black women? It seems like - at least in the case of Harvard and some of the institutions I know - that seems to be who's being targeted.

MARTIN: On March 20, activist Christopher Rufo posted on X, formerly Twitter, quote, "let's not ignore the pattern. This is the fourth Black female CRT DEI scholar to be accused of plagiarism at Harvard," unquote. Critical race theory - or CRT - is a body of legal scholarship that delves into structural racism. Rufo's accusations come after Claudine Gay testified before a Republican-led congressional committee looking into antisemitism.

We reached out to Rufo for this story. He's a senior fellow with the right-leaning Manhattan Institute. We received no response. His colleague, Ilya Shapiro, spoke with NPR.

ILYA SHAPIRO: Claudine Gay is the apotheosis of the anti-intellectual movement that values DEI, identity and activism over truth-seeking, merit and education. She is sort of the epitome of the crisis in higher education.

MARTIN: A university investigation concluded Gay did not violate Harvard's research standards. In January, she resigned as Harvard president but returned to faculty as a professor of government and African American studies. Rufo then directed charges of plagiarism against Sherri Charleston, chief diversity officer; Shirley Greene, Title IX coordinator; and Christina Cross, a sociology professor - three more Black women at Harvard. All declined comment.

Writer Jonathan Bailey runs the online publication Plagiarism Today. Bailey says that while some citations in the published work of these four women may warrant a review, most do not amount to research misconduct.

JONATHAN BAILEY: Conservatives obviously are not particularly fond of DEI programs, and they see this as a way to attack it.

MARTIN: Bailey has exposed plagiarism in higher education for 18 years. And he laments that plagiarism, from his perspective, is being, quote, "weaponized."

BAILEY: This isn't a case where they're checking everyone and happen to be finding, you know, plagiarism in these DEI cases. They are literally focusing all of their effort on those cases and totally ignoring pretty much everyone else.

MAPP: I don't even know what to say. I don't.

MARTIN: Professor Karen Mapp says she is stunned by attempts by right-wing activists to discredit Black scholarship.

MAPP: I think if people want to come for you, they're going to come for you. I think the question is, why?

MARTIN: The answer is clear, says Barbara Ransby, professor of history at the University of Illinois Chicago.

BARBARA RANSBY: There's certain people, certain ideas, certain bodies of scholarship that are just undeserving, that don't fit into the sort of long-standing white supremacist patriarchal notion of the academy, of brilliance, of intelligence.

MARTIN: Khalil Gibran Muhammad, who teaches history at Harvard, says a broader conservative campaign is in motion.

KHALIL GIBRAN MUHAMMAD: If these people have their way, they will criminalize even the ability to talk about race in America, let alone to track it or to study it or to look at the racial disparities that continue to be a fundamental threat to a functioning, healthy democracy.

MARTIN: Professor Muhammad says we've already seen the banning of certain books and some Black history courses in Florida and Texas. This followed Rufo's success in redefining critical race theory. Ilya Shapiro of the Manhattan Institute scoffs at the suggestion that there is systemic racism.

SHAPIRO: In terms of racial discrimination, I just - I don't see evidence of it.

MARTIN: Shapiro notes two exceptions, especially in higher education.

SHAPIRO: I do see great evidence of discrimination against Asian American applicants and white applicants.

MARTIN: Sociologist Joan Donovan, an assistant professor of journalism and an expert on disinformation at Boston University, says opposition to DEI and race studies is all about white grievance.

JOAN DONOVAN: They believe having to go through the process as a white person, particularly as a white man, disadvantages them. And I think people who are white have this vision of whiteness as being more advantaged and, therefore, are owed these positions.

MARTIN: Activists like Shapiro and Rufo say they are seeking a return to, quote, "the traditional core mission of higher education," unquote, which they characterize as colorblind.

RANSBY: An undercurrent of white supremacy has also been the false assumption of Black incompetence.

MARTIN: Barbara Ransby says those declaring themselves to be colorblind while making selective plagiarism accusations should be viewed skeptically.

RANSBY: We saw that during Reconstruction, when Black politicians finally assumed positions of leadership and there was a mockery made of their ability to speak, lead, legislate, et cetera. Some of the kinds of character assassinations that we've seen on Black women academics is a part of that larger context.

MARTIN: Harvard University officials did not respond to NPR's requests for comment. But in a statement, Frank Dobbin, Harvard sociology department chair, says the claims are, quote, "bogus" against the Black women.

Meanwhile, Christopher Rufo, anonymous complainants and the online publication Free Beacon are calling for more investigations, not only at Harvard but also at MIT, UCLA and Columbia University. Ransby says, as an historian on race and gender, she would not be surprised if they came after her, too.

RANSBY: Because that's the strategy, is to bully and intimidate and make people silent and fearful. I think we have to name this moment of growing racism, repression and authoritarianism, which means we have to organize. And that's something academics are known for doing.

MARTIN: Barbara Ransby says those academics may have little choice but to defend themselves as plagiarism and anti-DEI campaigns focused against Black scholars escalate.

For NPR News, I'm Phillip Martin in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAZUE'S "A SAFE SPACE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.