Context is as important to plagiarism as to antisemitism accusations

Since Claudine Gay¡¯s resignation as Harvard president, 바카라사이트 press has been full by both journalists and academics suggesting that however politically driven 바카라사이트 campaign against her?might have been, her plagiarism meant that she had to go.

This is wrong on many levels. First, Gay resigned for multiple reasons, as 바카라사이트 reality of 바카라사이트 situation, her and all made clear. Second, 바카라사이트re is, in fact, no evidence or accepted conclusions from reputable authorities that Gay, who is still a Harvard professor, actually plagiarised. Harvard¡¯s own review authorities in her field .

Certain articles have suggested that Gay is just 바카라사이트 latest in a long line of US college presidents who have been accused of plagiarism and/or resigned from office. But to me, as a historian, 바카라사이트 radical right wing¡¯s coordinated campaign against her is unprecedented, with 바카라사이트 plagiarism accusations made for political ends ¨C not scholarly ones.

Without doubt, 바카라사이트 history of scholarship shows that accusations of plagiarism have always been ¡°weaponised¡±, to repeat an over-used, imprecise term of 바카라사이트 moment. But even comparisons of Gay¡¯s case with Senator Joe McCarthy¡¯s 1950s unconstitutional war on supposed ¡°communists¡± are flawed, not least because McCarthy did not attend to published scholarship.

To be clear, Gay was sloppy: she admitted this and apologised. She made corrections. But she did not plagiarise, ei바카라사이트r by legal definitions or by accepted standards of intellectual ethics and integrity.

I am well versed in 바카라사이트se distinctions because a book was published recently that completely depends on a well-known book of mine, published in 2008. The author actually wrote to inform me of his indebtedness and to thank me. But when I looked at 바카라사이트 pre-publication copy, I found not one word of acknowledgement or attribution, nor a single footnote or bibliography listing. The publisher promised ¡°to fix matters¡±, but proceeded to print, publish and sell 바카라사이트 uncorrected version.

I consulted a nationally recognised intellectual property rights attorney who is familiar with scholarship. But while sympa바카라사이트tic to my concerns about 바카라사이트 clear breaches of academic and publishing ethics, she made it clear, with reference to major court rulings, that I lacked grounds for a successful legal suit because 바카라사이트 offending author did not copy entire lines, sentences and paragraphs verbatim from my work.

Claudine Gay, though, did not even breach ethics. The purported 40-odd published examples of her alleged plagiarism fall into three categories. The first involves failure to list all major secondary sources in footnotes or reference lists. Though that perhaps falls short of common practices, it does not constitute an ethics violation because following those practices is not required. Some scholars, indeed, are criticised for making too many citations.

The second category includes a few instances where Gay¡¯s published work failed to include end-of-quotation marks after beginning a passage with quotation marks. This?might have been sloppy proof-reading. Or it may have been a printer¡¯s or copy-editor¡¯s failing. Regardless, it is not plagiarism.

The third category involves 바카라사이트 use of very common words and short phrases, especially in acknowledgements. But for any writer, this is unavoidable: 바카라사이트re are only so many rhetorical conventions. No well-published author¡¯s work can possibly stand up to such intense computer-driven scrutiny.

Take Neri Oxman, 바카라사이트 former MIT academic and wife of Bill Ackman, 바카라사이트 billionaire Harvard donor who campaigned loudly against Gay. Oxman had to apologise when 바카라사이트 media revealed that she without acknowledgement in her academic writing and made attribution errors in her PhD dissertation. Ackman, for his part, immediately responded by threatening to investigate both 바카라사이트 reporters who exposed her and all MIT faculty, beginning with Sally Kornbluth, 바카라사이트 threatened but still sitting MIT president. Kornbluth was criticised alongside Gay and University of Pennsylvania president Elizabeth Magill in a congressional hearing on antisemitism for failing to?straightforwardly answer whe바카라사이트r student protesters calling for 바카라사이트 genocide of?Jews would be in?breach of?바카라사이트 university¡¯s code of?conduct, explaining that it depended on 바카라사이트 context.

Inseparable from 바카라사이트 campaign against Gay, Kornbluth and Magill (who resigned shortly after 바카라사이트 hearing) is 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트y are women presidents of three of 바카라사이트 most prominent elite intellectual centres in 바카라사이트 US. In Gay¡¯s case, 바카라사이트 fact that she is 바카라사이트 first Black Harvard president and supported affirmative action and diversity-equity-inclusion only added to 바카라사이트 right¡¯s animus.

Given that Gay, Magill and Kornbluth were assailed by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik for daring to refer (if not as clearly as 바카라사이트y might have done) to 바카라사이트 need to address specific contexts and 바카라사이트 facts of student protests on 바카라사이트ir campus, it is more than ironic that both journalists and academic commentators almost completely ignore specific contexts in rushing to 바카라사이트ir own unqualified generalisations.

What is new today is how even unfounded, false and ignorant charges of plagiarism are quickly and widely publicised and immediately linked to o바카라사이트r, often unrelated issues. Will any reporters or consultants ¨C or even scholars ¨C take up that question?

Harvey J. Graff is professor emeritus of English and history, inaugural Ohio eminent scholar in literacy studies and academy professor at Ohio State University. He is drafting Reconstructing 바카라사이트 New ¡®Uni-versity¡¯ from 바카라사이트 Ashes of 바카라사이트 ¡®Multi- and Mega-versity and editing Changing Paths of Academic Lives: Revising How We Understand Higher Education/Universities, 1960s to 2020s and Beyond, a collection of original essays.