Rep. Virginia Foxx, the Republican chair of the House Education and Workforce Committe, wrote a letter on December 20 to Penny Pritzker, the senior fellow of the powerful Harvard Corporation, the university’s top governing board, demanding information on Harvard’s response to “credible allegations of plagiarism” by Harvard President Claudine Gay over a 24-year period.
Foxx’s letter requested a “written response” by December 29 to produce a series of documents such as “all documents and communications concerning the initial allegations of plagiarism and the ‘independent review’” of Gay’s scholarship, including “all meeting minutes, transcripts, notes, coordinating communications, memoranda or other materials.”
Harvard has also been asked to provide documents related to the university’s “public response to media inquiries” about the plagiarism allegations as well as “any and all communications” between Harvard and its regional accreditor regarding its performance on academic honesty.
Foxx asked Harvard to provide a list of “any disciplinary actions” since January 2019 taken against Harvard faculty or students for research misconduct and other academic integrity violations, including inadequate citation.
