Harvard’s reputation suffered a significant blow last week when an exposé on President Claudine Gay’s plagiarism, co-authored by Chris Rufo and me, garnered over 100 million views on X. The Washington Free Beacon and the New York Post subsequently published their own reporting, and now Gay faces dozens of accusations of plagiarism in five of her academic papers, with several professors whose work she appropriated coming forward to express their outrage and dismay.
The Harvard Crimson, conducting an independent investigation, concluded that some of the instances “appear to violate Harvard’s current policies concerning plagiarism and academic integrity.” Next, a group of four Harvard undergraduates, writing anonymously for fear of retribution, declared: “We are confident that we would be suspended by the university if we were to follow similar practices in our own work.” A member of the Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors resigned in protest.
Meanwhile, Congress has gotten involved. The House of Representatives passed a resolution, 303-126, calling on Gay to resign. Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) introduced the College Endowment Accountability Act, aimed at raising the tax rate on Harvard’s nearly $51 billion endowment from 1.4% to 35%.
By leveraging meme magic, conservative voices have successfully circumvented traditional media gatekeepers to amplify this scandal’s impact.
As a result of Gay’s botched leadership, Harvard is now facing a crisis of confidence. The internet is already littered with memes of her goofy face, which laymen now instantly associate with fraud and corruption — her buzz cut and effete, oversized glasses are the perfect caricature of diversity, incompetence, and liberal elitism.
After 387 years spent meticulously building up its reputation for excellence, it took less than a single semester for an affirmative-action president to turn Harvard into a punch line.
Mainstream satirists on the left and the right have embraced the Claudine Gay meme. “Saturday Night Live” poked fun at her striking resemblance to Steven Urkel from the TV show “Family Matters,” while the Babylon Bee published multiple sarcastic articles about her plagiarism.
A recent “Dilbert” comic strip reflects an undeniable truth: The value of a Harvard degree isn’t what it used to be, even compared to just a few months ago.
By leveraging meme magic, conservative voices have successfully circumvented traditional media gatekeepers to amplify this scandal’s impact. Control of the narrative, in this instance, belongs once again to the people, and the people can plainly see that the emperor has no clothes. Academia, the prized stronghold of the left, has been laid bare for all to see, with its crown jewel in shambles.
This sentiment is gaining traction among students, as we see with the news that early applications to Harvard are down 17% this year compared with 2022. Just as MAGA memes propelled Donald Trump into the presidency in 2016, and just as Bud Light memes led to a generational shift in the U.S. beer market — the beer brand’s sales are down 30% year over year — Harvard is now doomed to be the ‘‘Bud Light of academia.” The university’s reputation has been tarnished for years to come.
Just as was the case with Bud Light, though, Harvard’s current predicament is more than just a reputational crisis. The consequences are tangible and financial.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has revealed that Gay’s brief leadership has already led to the withdrawal of more than $1 billion in donations. Harvard would lose billions more should its endowment ever be taxed.
Harvard should be a cautionary tale for other universities striving to preserve their prestige and donor support. Claudine Gay ought to be a case study in failed leadership that is sure to be taught in business schools. The key takeaway is the imperative of maintaining leadership integrity, competence, and accountability, lest you be turned into a meme. Lest you become the next Bud Light. Lest you become the next Harvard.
Nobody wants to be the next Harvard.
The best part is no matter what Harvard does next, it has already lost. Should the Harvard Corporation fire Claudine Gay, its trustees will have acknowledged that she is a serial plagiarist and a fraud with a mediocre mind who never should have been hired in the first place. Keeping her on the job allows her meme status to flourish, potentially leading to unpredictable and possibly more damaging consequences. Who knows how far this meme will spread?
Harvard is stuck in a classic no-win scenario. But for conservatives — or really anyone sane — it’s a big win for meritocracy.