For decades folks in academia have been commenting on a not-so-well kept secret. That ‘secret’? That a Harvard degree is essentially useless for anything except making political connections and denigrating anyone who doesn’t have a degree from Harvard (the ultimate in snobbery).
Grade inflation has run rampant for decades to the point where you have to be an absolute moron to NOT graduate with some kind of ‘honor’. It was said that Harvard would do whatever was necessary to drag a student over the finish line with an honor.
I will admit that I am painting with a pretty broad brush. There are amazing faculty (having Harvard on your CV does wonders) and there are talented students.
But on the flip side, there are faculty who tick a particular box or boxes, like Claudine Gay. Her academic history did not merit either of her positions at Harvard (IMO) and it’s truly surprising that Stanford let her get her PhD there.
Plagiarism is not a new problem at Harvard. For years it’s been clear that Harvard (and probably universities elsewhere) treat plagiarism as a minor offense when it’s committed by faculty or administrators and a major offense when it’s committed by undergraduates.
The fact that she and the Harvard Corporation pulled the race card and tried the old Dem trick of changing the definition of plagiarism, didn’t do them any favors either. It just underlined the issue rather than solving it.
Harvard’s been running on its reputation for a long time. And they have a lot of money. But I’ve seen other institutions close down who also ran on their rep. Unless they right the ship, then they might go the way of the dodo.
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