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Daily conversations from the Swell team about what's happening in the world.
Who is Claudine Gay and why should we care?
All right. So for the last week, all I've heard my parents talk about is Claudine Gay. Claudine Gay. Claudine Gay. What's going to happen to Claudine Gay? I have no idea who she is, other than that she is the president of Harvard, a very prestigious educational institution, and that she's been in trouble for some drama that has to do with the Israel Palestine conflict, and left over here thinking, I don't understand how these two are related
phil spade
@Phil · 2:06
Yes, Taylor. Claudine Gay was the president of Harvard University up until today. She was the first black president in Harvard's nearly 400 year history, which makes that a huge deal, and was only the second woman to ever serve in that capacity. However, her tenure lasts just six months, which represents the shortest tenure of any president of Harvard University in its 400 year history. But I think this is a huge deal for two reasons. One is what Harvard University represents
But to know after only six months, she's know it's definitely a head curious, you know, a simple Google search of her name, it brings up this whole anti semitism thing that you brought up, but also plagiarism. So can you explain to me a little bit where the accusation of both plagiarism and anti semitism is coming from?
phil spade
@Phil · 3:22
Now, that's a misconception. A lot of people thought that Claudine Gay was targeted, and then they just started looking in to past and found examples of plagiarism. The New York Post actually reported to Harvard University that they believed that some of Claudine Gay's published works had plagiarisms in it. Now, they reported that back in October. That was before this hearing. But there was another organization called the Washington Free Beacon that submitted more examples of that this morning
Like you mentioned, six months into her position, that's not a very good start. Now, the one thing that I am wondering, I mean, this is a school, as you mentioned, many Supreme Court justices have graduated from there, and this issue itself has to do with sort of global politics and the way that institutions in this country are dealing with those politics and the war in Palestine and Israel. Phil, what are the larger political ramifications here, if there are any?
phil spade
@Phil · 3:51
Taylor, as far as implications, I am sure that every university has already been looking at their student code of conduct policies and looking to invoke changes where necessary. But I really don't think that this was what that was all about. And I don't think this really had much to do with anti semitism on campuses or plagiarism on campuses, as much as it had to do with the politics of theater