Dr. Carol M. Swain joined Wednesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy where she discussed her nonprofit organization’s upcoming conference and Harvard University’s silence in response to her attorney’s letter to the university demanding answers about what Swain claims is plagiarism of her work by outgoing President Claudine Gay.
In December 2023, writer and activist Christopher Rufo accused then-Harvard University President Claudine Gay of plagiarizing “multiple sections” of Swain’s Ph.D. thesis from 1997.
Swain’s attorney’s letter to Harvard requested answers to many questions surrounding the university’s plagiarism policy and its defense of Gay’s work by January 8.
However, as noted by Swain during Wednesday’s interview with Leahy, she has yet to receive a response from the university.
“We never received a response to our letter, and so there will be another letter sent to them this week,” Swain said.
When asked by all-star panelist Crom Carmichael exactly how much of her work was plagiarized by Gay, Swain said she identified “two direct instances of verbatim of plagiarism,” among others.
“I’ve been stating the same thing from the very beginning. There are two direct instances of verbatim plagiarism, but my greater concern was that her dissertation and her entire early work, at least three articles, borrow or steal my ideas without really acknowledging the inspiration for those articles. And so my contention is that it’s much bigger than the verbatim. It has to do with how she framed her dissertation and how she framed some of her articles,” Swain explained.
Pivoting to reports cited by Leahy that allege Gay’s “life story” – which includes coming from a “well off family in Haiti” to attending one of the most elite prep schools in America and eventually Stanford and Harvard – is sought after by book publishers and Hollywood producers, Swain, who’s life story differs greatly from Gay’s, said the former Harvard president’s story would “sell better than mine.”
“People don’t want a positive story. They would prefer a story where this person from Haiti rises through the ranks and fights racism and becomes the president of Harvard University where she is toppled by supporters, supporters of Donald Trump, who must derail Harvard’s first ever black president. That sells better than my story,” Swain said.
Leahy then pivoted to discussing Swain’s nonprofit organization, Be The People, which is hosting a conference next month on February 9-10.
Be The People’s American Dream Conference will be held at the Richland Country Club in Nashville and feature the host of The Larry Elder Show, Larry Elder, as the keynote speaker.
Swain said the conference will also feature three education panels – one on education and cultural Marxism, another on crime and criminal justice reform, and the third on women’s rights.
Swain said anyone interested in attending the event but cannot afford the entry fee can email the event team, and they’ll “work something out.”
“The theme of our conference is, ‘we have a nation to save.’ And I think all of us agree that we have a nation that’s in, you know, terrible peril, and we need to come together with some of the best minds available and see what we can do individually and collectively to save our nation,” Swain added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Carol Swain” by Carol Miller Swain.
