The formerly reputable news organization known as the Associated Press was brutally fact-checked on the social media platform X Wednesday morning when the wire service tried to frame the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay as the result of conservative “weaponization.”
What exactly was weaponized, one might ask?
That would be Gay’s decision to allegedly take words from other academics and portray them as her own without offering their original authors any attribution, whatsoever.
Gay is of course not a victim in this story, and her short tenure presiding over the once prestigious school is a sign of how far academia has fallen.
The ousted university head will forever be remembered as the embodiment of failed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
She was handed a job she was not qualified for, allegedly cheated to help herself get there and then resigned in disgrace when it was revealed that not only did she harbor rabid anti-Semites on campus, but she was also seemingly outed as a serial plagiarist.
Gay finally announced her resignation weeks after she refused to denounce violent, anti-Semitic threats against Jews when she appeared before Congress last month.
One would think her resignation might be a win for anyone interested in restoring integrity to higher education.
But the folks at the AP — an organization that will fire reporters for plagiarism — turned Gay’s historically short tenure at Harvard on the right after it was announced she would quit.
Is plagiarism a fireable offense?
In a post on X, the AP went with the following headline:
“Harvard president’s resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism.”
X’s community notes feature, which lends a voice to normal people and not just partisan “fact-checkers,” corrected the record — which is that plagiarism is a no-no at any Ivy League school such as Harvard.
Harvard president’s resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism https://t.co/GiVkT3LgUo
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 3, 2024
“Plagiarism is a breach of rules for Harvard University,” the original community note stated, using Harvard’s policy on plagiarism as a source.
The original community note added, “Claudine Gay was ultimately forced to resign for a series of breaches of this policy,” and concluded, “Plagiarism — or application of the rules around plagiarism — therefore cannot be considered a ‘weapon.’”
Indeed, Harvard’s plagiarism policy for students is clear:
“Students who, for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including requirement to withdraw from the College.
“Students who have been found responsible for any violation of these standards will not be permitted to submit course evaluation of the course in which the infraction occurred.”
In this instance, it was not Gay’s decision to harbor anti-Semites that saw her pressured to quit but a violation of a policy that could see any of her school’s students expelled on any given day.
The AP’s tweet about her resignation is rare in that it involves two institutions Americans have lost all confidence in — legacy media and academia.
The community note is beautiful in the sense that it represents a changing of the guard.
Far-left media organizations such as the AP can no longer act as gatekeepers of information to protect their own.
Thanks in large part to X owner Elon Musk, information now belongs to the people. In this case, they used publicly available information to call out a blatant lie.
The AP tried to spin Gay’s resignation and portray it as an indictment of conservatism. The organization failed and is now the party that finds itself under the spotlight.
