Is Claudine Gay a Product of Affirmative Action?

Harvard’s ex-president, Claudine Gay (USA Today) 

I don’t know how happy Dr. King would be with how his heroic quest seeking equality for his people has evolved. But It’s hard to imagine this great advocate for his people would be happy that people are still being judged by the color of their skin. Only now in reverse. It is called Affirmative Action. Excellence had been replaced by mediocrity. 

If I were a black person, I would be embarrassed to admit that I was accepted to Harvard on the basis of Affirmative Action. What does it say about me that I would not have been accepted to Harvard based on merit - and only accepted for purposes of racial diversity?!

Although the Supreme Court finally struck it down, the effects of this program are still being felt today. Perhaps even reaching its peak in the case of Harvard’s (now ex) president, Claudine Gay. Was she chosen because she was black? Were other more qualified candidates that were white passed over? Hard to know the answer to those questions. But I have my suspicions.

In their quest for diversity, top tier colleges like Harvard - where meritocracy is supposed to be the basis for admission - now place diversity over merit as a basis for that. They will now choose less qualified students that are black over more qualified students that are white for purposes of diversity. Affirmative Action has now spread to faculty and administration. Claudine Gay became Harvard’s first black President despite the newly discovered instances of plagiarism in her doctoral dissertation. This is not to say that anyone was aware of her plagiarism at the time of her appointment as president. It is only to say that Affirmative Action could very well be the reason she got to where she is. 

Affirmative Action is a product of the left. And it has taken hold of academia  Which makes the following excerpted from the Jewish Exponent no surprise:

Gay had also faced criticism over the school’s initial statement on Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. Critics called the statement tepid, particularly in the wake of a letter from a coalition of student groups that blamed the attack on Israel. 

There was no condemnation of Hamas for its savage attack against the Jewish people on October 7^th. And yet. protests calling for genocide against the Jewish people are considered exercising free speech.  Gay’s  performance (along with the performances of her colleagues at MIT and Penn) at the congressional hearing on antisetiem only made matters worse. How anyone can say that calling for genocide against the Jewish people is a matter of free speech and actionable only depending on context defies logic - and even common sense! 

And yet with all of this, Gay was supported by her colleagues and Harvard’s board. 

I think it is safe to say that a school like Harvard takes plagiarism very seriously. It’s considered an unforgivable sin in schools like that. I doubt any student caught plagiarizing would be granted a PhD. And yet  when  Gay’s plagiarism was discovered she was given a pass and defended by Harvard’s faculty. It took several more discoveries of plagiarism for Gay to finally resign. That she will be allowed to remain on Harvard’s faculty at a high 6 figure salary means we have a long way to go before meritocracy is fully restored to its rightful place in higher education.