Claudine Gay and the Culture Wars

Wisdom of Crowds

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Aaron Sibarium, a star reporter over at the Washington Free Beacon covering the campus culture wars, joined us this week to talk about Claudine Gay’s resignation. Aaron’s reporting on Gay’s plagiarism was instrumental in her eventual downfall.

We start the episode discussing the merits of the case, but quickly switch gears to talk about first principles. What does it mean for our society if culture war becomes a war of personal destruction? Will it lead to a better world, in universities and more broadly, or have we just descended into another level of vengeful retribution?

In the full episode (for paying subscribers only), we discuss the parallel with the Supreme Court, and the railroading of Robert Bork in 1987. The Court has never been the same since, and is arguably quite degraded since its mid-century heyday. Maybe this is all just the product of the inherent, glorious messiness of democracy? Or are we going the way of Weimar Germany?

Required Reading:

* “Fresh Allegations of Plagiarism Unearthed in Official Academic Complaint Against Claudine Gay,” by Aaron Sibarium (Washington Free Beacon).

* “Harvard Itself Unearthed New Case of Plagiarism,” by Aaron Sibarium (Washington Free Beacon).

* “Harvard President Claudine Gay Hit by Six New Charges of Plagiarism,” by Aaron Sibarium (Washington Free Beacon).

* “Harvard’s President Claudine Gay Should Resign,” by Ruth Marcus (Washington Post).

* “The Rise and Fall of Claudine Gay,” by Shadi Hamid (WoC).

* “The Weimarization of the American Republic,” by Aaron Sibarium (American Purpose).