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Claudine Gay Resigns After Backlash. How Is Mainstream Media Reacting?
Claudine Gay, the former Harvard President, announced last Tuesday she was stepping down from her position. This comes after an ongoing plagiarism scandal against Gay and a controversial congressional hearing surrounding on-campus antisemitism.
As both controversies have gained media attention over the last few months, many thought it was only a matter of time before Gay’s resignation — despite Harvard’s ongoing support. But how have mainstream media across the political spectrum been reacting to this story?
What is the left saying?Some news outlets on the left are blaming conservatives for forcing Gay’s resignation. Here are some headlines from 2 left-leaning news outlets: But there is validity in Politico’s and The New York Times’ headlines. Rep. Elise Stefanik first ripped into Gay on December 5th 2023, calling for her resignation. 6 days later, Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet published a newsletter titled “Is Claudine Gay a Plagiarist?” which brought even more media attention to the then-Harvard President. Then on December 19th 2023, Rufo posted the following on X (formerly Twitter): “We launched the Claudine Gay plagiarism story from the Right. The next step is to smuggle it into the media apparatus of the Left, legitimizing the narrative to center-left actors who have the power to topple her. Then squeeze.” This Tweet added pressure on Gay and only confirmed the left’s belief that this was a coordinated attack to bring down Gay — which Rufo acknowledged in an interview. The left also reported that racism (in the quote below) played into Gay’s resignation — as she is Harvard’s first black president. “What they wanted was to get this black woman out of Harvard University” Reinforcing what Claudine Gay said in her statement regarding the racism involved in her controversies. | What is the right saying?Some news outlets on the right are claiming the left is downplaying and even lying over Gay’s resignation: ❝ Media rush to defend ex-Harvard President Claudine Gay, downplay plagiarism and blame 'racist' conservatives Right-leaning media outlets have amplified discussions on Gay's congressional hearing and plagiarism claims, overshadowing coverage from the left. Claims from Christopher Rufo (a right-wing journalist) arose in an interview, that the left completely ignored stories surrounding Claudine Gay and her controversies for the first few weeks: “…the left-wing media uniformly ignored the story for 10 days and tried to bury it…” In response to the “racist” conservative-led campaign to oust Gay, Fox News co-host Greg Gutfeld said the following: “…she refused to defend Jews and then she cries racism. That’s identity jiu-jitsu…” And the right highlighted that Gay wasn’t the only president to be fired due to the congressional hearing. Liz Magill, former President of the University of Pennsylvania, almost immediately resigned after her disastrous testimony on antisemitism. However, other events did play into Magill’s resignation. |
Let’s Seek Common Ground, What Are The Facts?
December 5th 2023, Claudine Gay lacked clarity in her statements when responding to antisemitic claims against Harvard
December 11th 2023, conservative journalists Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet published “Is Claudine Gay a Plagiarist?” highlighting potentially plagiarised material in Gay’s 1997 doctoral dissertation
January 2nd 2024, saw Gay’s resignation as president after pressure from financial interests, political figures and media outlets
Claudine Gay will resume her faculty position and will continue to face plagiarism allegations, as more allegations pile up
Gay has been subject to personal attacks and threats, with Harvard condemning them
Official statements: from Harvard, from Claudine Gay
News Worthy:
#1 — Epstein Files have been released (new files are set to be released soon, we’ll cover this story in more detail soon…) 🗞️
#2 — Lululemon founder Chip Wilson has recently criticised the company’s push for diversity and inclusion (keep your eyes peeled for a video on “Diversity Hiring” from Gen soon…) 🤸
#3 — Donald Trump could be kept off the ballots in this year’s election 👀
Personal Updates From Gen:
Just finished writing my annual report for 2023, the same template I used to grow 250k subs in one year and became a full-time time creator
Spent holidays in Brazil and am now looking to hit this New Year hard
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