As I stated at the outset, my goal for writing this piece was to provide important context for understanding the racialized attacks against Dr. Gay and to humanize her. From my perspective, Dr. Gay was not only unfairly targeted by racist taunts that she was a “DEI hire” and unfounded accusations of plagiarism. Sadly, the deeper story shows that the broader Harvard community knew full well that her congressional testimony about hate speech on campus was completely in line with the university’s existing rules and the cultural norms, yet they let her take the blame all by herself. They also did not do anything to protect her from claims that she was unqualified and a plagiarist.…
