Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, wrote a letter on December 20 to Penny Pritzker, a senior member of the powerful Harvard Corporation, the university’s main board of directors, demanding information about Harvard’s response to “credible allegations.” of plagiarism” by Harvard president Claudine Gay over a period of 24 years.
Foxx’s letter requested a “written response” by December 29 to produce a series of documents such as “all documents and communications related to 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 with regarding their performance in terms of academic honesty.
Foxx asked Harvard to provide a list of “all disciplinary actions” taken since January 2019 against Harvard faculty or students for research misconduct and other violations of academic integrity, including improper citation.
