First Timers Beltre, Mauer Lead Hall Class of '24

First Timers Beltre, Mauer Lead Hall Class of ‘24
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 17, 2024

While baseball fields and stadia across the fruited plains lay dormant under a shiny, pristine, white crust of crunchy, unpunctured snow, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) labored at determining who would be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year, the announcement from Cooperstown to determine the Class of 2024 will be made on Tuesday, January 23. The Hot Stove season has been in full bloom as the ballparks enjoy the winter slumber.

Still at issue, those ballplayers tainted by substance allegations. The only way steroid/HGH-addled balloteers should be admitted to the Hall of Fame is with a paid ticket for admission to the museum.

“We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. Steroid users don’t belong here,” wrote late Hall of Famer Joe Morgan in a November 2017 letter to the BBWAA, hoping to influence their Hall votes in 2018. Hopefully Morgan’s letter continues to resonate in 2024 as cheaters such as Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez (A-Roid) may inch closer to the magic number of 75 percent - the required minimum to grant one admission to the Hall.

The cloud of controversy has been dark and heavy, while initially eliminating some from Hall of Fame contention. In the cases of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa, the BBWAA voters rejected those candidacies, and after 10 years, their eligibility expired. Votes for Ramirez, in his seventh year on the ballot moved slightly upward to 33.2 percent in 2023 from 28.9 percent in 2022, while Rodriguez checked in with 35.7 percent of the vote in his second year on the ballot, up from 34.3 percent of the vote in 2022. 

I remain a consistent and virulent opponent of the steroid players and will continue to do so for the next eight years as Alex Rodriguez is on the ballot for the third year. The last thing to be said about A-Roid speaks volumes as to why he should never earn a plaque in Cooperstown. Admitting his use of steroids/banned substances, Rodriguez found himself suspended for 211 games from August 2013 through the entire 2014 season - a suspension well merited.

Ramirez, while expressing some sense of contrition during a 2019 interview with Boston 25 News, still should not be admitted to the Hall. On getting caught using steroids Ramirez said, “it was a good thing for me because it made me grow up. Maybe a lot of people didn’t get caught and they were doing maybe some crazy stuff and they’re not learning from it. So I think everything happens for a reason and everything is working for the good. I’m in a better place than I’ve ever been, even when I was playing, so I don’t regret it because it made me grow up.”

Players like Bonds, Clemens, Ramirez, Rodriguez, and Sosa, more than likely would have been enshrined in Cooperstown sans steroids.

Rodriguez banged out 696 home runs, good for fifth all time, 2,086 RBI, fourth all time, 2,021 runs scored, good for eighth place, 3,115 hits, for 23rd place, seventh place in both total bases with 5,813 and extra base hits with 1,275. Rodriguez won three MVP awards, appeared on MVP ballots in 15 seasons, and made it on to 14 All Star teams in a career spanning 1994-2016.

Ramirez, who played 1993-2011, hit 555 home runs - 15th all time, 1,122 extra base hits, good for 18th place all time, 1,831 RBI, 20th all time, a two-time World Series winner with the Red Sox, a 12 time All Star, and 11 times batted over .300. He cracked 2,574 base hits for a .312 career batting average - impressive for a power hitter.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame has a so-called character clause. “Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played.” So-called because it has existed since 1945 and more than a fair share of miscreants have found their way to Cooperstown. (https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/bbwaa-rules-for-election)

With voting in mind, were I a privileged member of the BBWAA charged with the task of electing the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024, six former major leaguers would earn my votes - two holdovers, and four first timers, including a charity vote for Bartolo Colon.  Twelve retirees are on the ballot for the first time with another 14 holdovers. Candidates who do not attain 75 percent of the vote must receive at least five percent of the vote or will be eliminated from future consideration. 

Omar Vizquel, was the quintessential shortstop of a generation, having won 11 Gold Glove awards during his 24 year career, second most at that position all time. Vizquel was also the oldest shortstop to win a Gold Glove, having done so at age 39 in 2006. After five years with the Seattle Mariners, Vizquel took his talents to Cleveland continuing to be the defensive gem that will vault him into Cooperstown.

Vizquel was three times an All Star, overshadowed by Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, elected to Cooperstown in a near-unanimous vote in 2020. On the field, Vizquel led the league in Fielding Percentage six times as a shortstop and is the all time leader in Fielding Percentage at .985. Vizquel shares the season record with Cal Ripken, Jr. for committing the fewest errors by a shortstop playing in at least 150 games with a paltry three. Additionally, Vizquel is first all time in double plays turned by a shortstop, third all time in assists at shortstop, and 11th all time in putouts made by a shortstop.

At bat, Vizquel compares rather favorably to Hall of Fame shortstops Ozzie Smith, Luis Aparicio, and Luke Appling. Vizquel hit more home runs than Smith and Appling, trailing Aparicio by only three. Vizquel drove in more runs than Smith and Aparicio, stole more bases than Appling, hit for a higher batting average than Smith and Aparicio, while collecting more hits than all three. This is the seventh year on the ballot for Vizquel, having dropped from 23.9 percent of the vote in 2022 to 19.5 percent in 2023. Vizquel’s numbers may dip even further in 2024 due to allegations of a rather serious nature. Until they are adjudicated, I will not traffic in rumors and/or innuendo. Should Vizquel be found guilty, I will withdraw my support of his entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

While this is his sixth year on the ballot, Todd Helton had earned my support from his first year of eligibility. The 17-year MLB veteran played his entire career with the Colorado Rockies (1997-2013) batting .316 in 2,247 games with 2,519 hits, 369 home runs, scoring 1,401 runs, and driving in 1,406 runs. The Knoxville native finished second in the 1998 Rookie of the Year balloting, earning five All Star game selections in consecutive years, from 2000 through 2004. Appearing on MVP ballots in six years, Helton’s breakout season was in 2000, leading the National League in hits with 216 and all of MLB with 59 doubles, 147 RBI and a .372 batting average, yet could only manage a fifth place finish in the MVP race that season. Earning 52 percent in 2022, Helton enjoyed the largest leap of any returning candidate of 20.2 percent to 72.2 percent of the vote in 2023, but fell short of admission by 11 votes. Helton will more than likely earn induction this summer.

I’m throwing Bartolo Colon a vote when I doubt he will receive the requisite five percent to remain on the ballot. But, as a member of my New York Mets, Colon, larger than life, was a fan favorite. For a guy who batted .084 in a 21 year career, when Colon cracked his lone home run, a two-run blast in San Diego, on May 7, 2016, the baseball world turned upside down. Mets television broadcaster Keith Hernandez said of Colon’s trip around the bases, “I want to say that was one of the longest home run trots I’ve ever seen, but I think that’s how fast he runs!”

Colon hit that home run at age 42, and pitched until age 45. The Dominican-born right handed hurler won 247 games with 2,535 strikeouts and was named to four All Star teams. Colon pitched for 11 teams, and won the Cy Young award in 2005 with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, with a record of 21 and eight.

While Colon may only appear on the ballot for one year before being eliminated from contention, both Adrian Beltre and Joe Mauer could very well also appear on the ballot for one year. Beltre and Mauer both have excellent chances of gaining election to the Baseball Hall of Fame on their first ballot and head to Cooperstown this July.

In his 21 year career, which began at age 19, Beltre suited up with the Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox, and Rangers. He struck for 3,166 base hits - 18th all time, 1,707 RBI - 25th all time, 477 home runs - 31st all time, 636 doubles - 11th all time, 5,369 total bases - 15th all time, and 1,151 extra base hits - 15th all time. Beltre earned spots on four All Star teams, and garnered five Gold Gloves at third base.

Beltre played 2,759 of his 2,933 Major League games at the Hot Corner - second all time behind only the late great Brooks Robinson who played 2,870 games at third base. If and when Beltre gets inducted at Cooperstown, he will be the fifth Dominican-born player to reach the Hall, after Juan Marichal (1983), Pedro Martinez (2015), Vladimir Guerrero (2018), and David “Big Papi” Ortiz (2022).

Joe Mauer, a St. Paul, MN native played his entire 15 year Major League career with his hometown Minnesota Twins. It might be a close call, whether or not Mauer will be a one and done on the ballot heading to Cooperstown, but no doubt he will be enshrined there. In the first two-thirds of his career, Mauer, as a full time catcher had his best years and by far should be enough to vault him into the Hall of Fame. Mauer won three batting titles - most ever for a catcher, batting .347 in 2006, .328 in 2008, and his career best .365 in 2009, also his MVP season. In that MVP season, Mauer reached career highs in hits, with 191, home runs, with 28, and RBI, with 96. In those first 10 years, Mauer earned three Gold Gloves, was named to six All Star teams, and batted .323, before closing out his career at .306.

Another player who stayed with one team his entire career, New York Mets third baseman David Wright, must be classified as a “what might have been.” And although Wright did not grow up in the environs of Shea Stadium, a childhood in Norfolk, VA proved the next best thing, as that, for 38 years, housed the Mets Triple-A team, for whom Wright rooted. As a Met for his 14 season career, Wright, like Mauer, both a fan favorite and had his best years in a 10 year stretch. During that time, Wright averaged 144 games played with a slash line of .301/.382/.506. He hit 216 home runs, drove in 899 runs, and scored 866, while being named to seven All Star teams, and earning two Gold Gloves at the Hot Corner. Wright played in 77 games during his last three seasons, giving way to severe Spinal Stenosis. It should be noted that Wright is but one of four third basemen with 350-plus doubles, 200-plus home runs, and 150-plus stolen bases. Each of the others, George Brett, Chipper Jones, and Michael Jack Schmidt, are in the Hall of Fame. While not expected to make the Hall, hopefully Wright can earn enough votes to warrant another year or two on the ballot.

Three other former players on the ballot of note are, Gary Sheffield, Billy Wagner, and Francisco Rodriguez. Sheffield is in his 10th and final year on the ballot. He played for eight teams in a 22 year career, driving in 1,676 runs and scoring 1,636 runs. The number of interest will be the home runs - 509, ranking Sheffield 27th all time. But 500-plus home runs is no longer an automatic ticket to the Hall of Fame - eight players who are above Sheffield - six not in the Hall due to steroids/PEDs allegations and two who have not yet appeared on Hall ballots, but are certain locks for the Hall. The nine time All Star appeared on 55 percent of the ballots in 2023, up 14.4 percent from 2022, but that same jump will not allow Sheffield to reach 75 percent. Sheffield did appear in the Mitchell Report that investigated steroid/PED usage. His only hope is the Veterans Committee, but for me, I pass.

Wagner and Rodriguez are an interesting study because of their similar stat lines. Both closers pitched in 16 seasons and played for five teams each. Wagner’s record is 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and Rodriguez’s record is 52-53 with a 2.86 ERA. Wagner’s 422 saves ranks him sixth all time and Rodriguez’s 437 saves ranks him fourth all time. Wagner is in his ninth year on the ballot, and fell 27 votes short of induction in 2023. His 17.1 percent jump from 51 percent in 2022 was second highest behind only Helton. Wagner, a seven time All Star, appeared in 853 games, pitching 903 innings, and striking out 1,196 batters. Rodriguez, a six time All Star, appeared in 948 games, pitching 976 innings, striking out 1,142 batters. Rodriguez received 10.8 percent of the vote in 2023, as a freshman on the ballot. Wagner’s fate may very well be a harbinger for Rodriguez.

While it is important to not sully the Baseball Hall of Fame with the likes of Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, the focus must be on the greats who may be enshrined this July 21 and how they will continue to be the true ambassadors to the game of baseball as so many before them have been. Sadly, this is an ever shrinking community as Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson passed away on September 26, 2023, at age 86.

Brooks Robinson (05/18/1937 - 09/26/2023) earned admission into the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot in 1983 with a commanding 92 percent of the vote. Known as the “Human Vacuum Cleaner,” Robinson could turn a certain double or triple smashed down the third base line into a putout at first with seamless relative ease. He played the entirety of his 23 year career with the Baltimore Orioles, winning the American League MVP in 1964. Robinson also won the MVP of the 1970 World Series, as the Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games. Named to 18 All Star teams, Robinson also won 16 Gold Glove awards - in consecutive seasons, with a career fielding percentage of .971.

Robinson “was so beloved in Baltimore that sportswriter Gordon Beard wrote, ‘Brooks (Robinson) never asked anyone to name a candy bar after him. In Baltimore, people named their children after him.’” (The National Baseball Hall of Fame ® Almanac) I had the enormous pleasure of meeting Brooks Robinson in 1998 at a political function in Baltimore, MD.

May his memory be for a Blessing, may 2024 be a better, healthier year for one and all, and may the baseball season continue to excite its fans while earning new fans to discover the greatness of America’s national pastime.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He has been a Patron-level member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame since 2007.

Gay Is Out, But Not Gone

Gay Is Out, But Not Gone
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 4, 2024

Upon the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon, his successor, President Gerald R. Ford said, “Our long, national nightmare is over,” during his August 9, 1974 inaugural address.  Claudine Gay resigned the presidency of Harvard University on Tuesday, January 2 after a tumultuous just shy of a month since her disastrous December 5 appearance before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the discovery of myriad instances of plagiarism in her professional work.

While the nightmare only seemed long, Gay dragging out what should have been a decision made within days, not weeks, of her appearance on Capitol Hill, it is a national story. Harvard is considered the elite of the elites in college education - the producer of presidents - five (Yale is second with three), vice presidents - four (Princeton is second with three), Supreme Court justices - 18 (Yale is second with nine). Yet Harvard’s reputation has taken a beating during Gay’s six month tenure as president, the shortest in its nearly four century existence.

Gay appeared before the House Education Committee alongside M.I.T. president Sally Kornbluth and now former president of the University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill, regarding the horrific rising scourge of campus anti-Semitism. All three had equally repugnant performances before the committee, yet only Magill had sense enough to resign within days, on December 9. Not one could, or would, condemn the calls for genocide of their Jewish student populations, or anti-Semitism, hiding behind the First Amendment of the US Constitution, calling such incendiary language free speech and priding themselves as leading universities dedicated to the free and open exchange of ideas.

Such claims couldn’t be further from the truth. According to The FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression) Free Speech Rankings, Harvard bottomed out dead last at 248 out of 248 schools in terms of a free speech culture on campus. Penn has only Harvard beneath it, ranking 247th, and M.I.T., the “leader” of this group of least free in free speech at 136th. (https://rankings.thefire.org/rank) 

“You get kicked out of places like Harvard for misgendering someone. You get kicked out of a school; you get expelled if you’re falsely accused of sexual assault with no due process. When you call for the genocide and somehow the president of the university acts as a human shield on your behalf - and I hope these wealthy donors of every stripe, every background, look at this and withhold their gifts - because this is what has been created in this disgusting laboratory,” said Kennedy on the December 6 Fox News noon program “Outnumbered.” The laboratory to which Kennedy referred is the Ivy League and quite frankly, numerous other campuses.

“Microaggressions are condemned with extreme moral outrage and yet violence against Jews, anti-Semitism, seems to have found a place of tolerance on the campus,” said Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan. Rowan is also a former Penn board member, and contributed more than $50 million to Wharton, the business school at Penn. 

While some might suggest Kennedy’s words are hyperbole, that simply is not true. Students, professors, and coaches alike get “canceled” for the slightest of so-called infractions or microaggressions. “Harvard’s women’s [ice] hockey coach said after a loss, ‘too many chiefs, not enough Indians,’ and her job is in jeopardy but calling for global intifada is free speech?” queried former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett. More than a year after coach Katey Stone made that comment, there were calls for her resignation. After 29 years as head coach, Stone retired the first week of June 2023.

Presidents Gay, Kornbluth, and Magill made Bennett’s point for him during their shameful testimonies on December 5. US Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), as a member of the Education Committee, took each university president to task and took them apart for their inability to appropriately answer even the most simple question, with the most obvious answer.

Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman posted the following on December 5, “The presidents of @Harvard, @MIT, and @Penn were all asked the following question under oath at today’s Congressional hearing on antisemitism: Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment? The answers they gave reflect the profound moral bankruptcy of presidents Gay, Magill, and Kornbluth… They must all resign in disgrace.”

A sampling of answers from each of these alleged leaders in higher education:

Stefanik: “Calling for the genocide of Jews does not constitute bullying or harassment?”

Kornbluth: “I have not heard calling for the genocide of Jews on campus.”

Stefanik: “But you’ve heard chants for intifada.”

Kornbluth: I’ve heard chants, which can be anti-Semitic, depending on the context when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people.”

Stefanik: “So those would not be according to the M.I.T. code of conduct or rules?”

Kornbluth: “That would be investigated as harassment if pervasive or severe.”

Intifada is the uprising against Israel and/or Jews. Could Kornbluth not put two and two together and understand what the pro-Hamas supporters called for at M.I.T.?

Magill: “Our approach to speech, as I have identified it, follows, and is guided by the United States Constitution which allows for robust perspectives.”

Stefanik: “You’re speaking out of both sides of your mouth. You’re defending it. You’ve allowed these professors to teach at your college. You create a safe haven for this kind of anti-Semitic behavior. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct?”

Magill: “If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment, yes.”

Stefanik: “Conduct meaning committing the act of homicide?”

Magill: “It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.”

Stefanik: “It’s a context-dependent decision? That’s your testimony today, calling for the genocide of Jews is dependent on the context? That is not bullying or harassment. This is the easiest question to answer yes, Ms. Magill.”

Stefanik: “You’re president of Harvard, so I assume you’re familiar with the term intifada, correct?

Gay: “I’ve heard that term, yes.”

Stefanik: “And you understand that the use of the term intifada in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the state of Israel including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews. Are you aware of that?”

Gay: “That type of hateful speech is personally abhorrent to me.”

Stefanik: “And there have been multiple marches at Harvard, with students chanting, quote, ‘there is only one solution - intifada - revolution,’ and quote, ‘globalize the intifada.’ Is that correct?”

Gay: “I’ve heard that thoughtless, reckless, and hateful language on our campus, yes.”

Stefanik: “So do you believe that type of hateful speech is contrary to Harvard’s code of conduct, or is it allowed at Harvard?”

Gay: “We embrace a commitment to free expression, and give a wide berth to free expression even of views that are objectionable…”

Stefanik: “You and I both know that’s not the case. You are aware that Harvard ranks dead last when it came to free speech; are you not aware of that report?”

Gay: “As I observed earlier, I reject that characterization…”

Stefanik: “The data shows it’s true…. So the answer is yes, that calling for the genocide of Jews violates the Harvard code of conduct. Correct. (The spoken word “correct” sounded like an affirmation, or statement, not so much a question.)

Gay: “Again, it depends on the context…”

Stefanik: “It does not depend on the context. The answer is yes, and this is why you should resign. These are unacceptable answers across the board.”

Quite frankly, these three miserable excuses for university presidents were tossed softballs the size of basketballs and should have hit them out of the park with their eyes closed. Instead, they issued testimony that was stiff and unemotional. Stefanik seemed to be the only person to have any sense of urgency regarding the shocking degree of campus anti-Semitism, not just at Harvard, M.I.T., and Penn, but on campuses all across the nation - at least 70 at last count, according to several sources. (Sadly, "Saturday Night Live," mocked Stefanik in an over exaggerated skit, and shame on SNL, a program that hasn’t been relevant in decades.)

This was an opportunity to reach moral clarity, but this triumvirate of feckless so-called university leaders failed terribly and disgracefully. The calls for the resignations of all three university presidents came swiftly and with alacrity. As noted above, Magill resigned four days after her appearance before the Education Committee, yet retains her teaching position with Penn Carey Law. Kornbluth has neither resigned nor been dismissed from her position at M.I.T.

But Gay’s circumstances traversed an all new direction as the allegations of plagiarism came fast and furious. It was due to this issue and not the issue of anti-Semitism on Harvard’s campus, that Gay poorly addressed, that became the bane of her existence.

“This is a moral failure of Harvard’s leadership and higher education leadership at the highest levels. And the only change they have made to their code of conduct, where they failed to condemn calls for genocide of the Jewish people, the only update to the code of conduct is to allow a plagiarist as the president of Harvard,” said Stefanik, herself an alumnus of Harvard.

Stefanik is absolutely correct in that assessment. As seems to be typical, campus anti-Semitism, more the norm than at any time since the Holocaust, is considered an aberration or treated as free speech. Calls for Gay’s ousting didn’t reach fever pitch until the revelations of severe plagiarism surfaced. And even then, it was couched as “duplicative language,” in the headline of a December 20 New York Times article written by Jennifer Schuessler. (Note to former president Gay - use of quotation marks and appropriate attribution and citation - not much of a challenge.)

From “The Fellows of Harvard College,” on Gay: “an independent review by distinguished political scientists… conducted a review of her published work. On December 9 the Fellows received the results, which revealed a few instances of inadequate citation.” Gay received praise for proactively seeking to correct two of the articles under review, according to The Ingraham Angle on December 21.

Yet, Aaron Sibarium wrote for The Washington Free Beacon on December 19, that “Harvard University on Tuesday received a complaint outlining over 40 allegations of plagiarism against its embattled president Claudine Gay… which comprise almost half of her scholarly output.”

Forty-plus instances of plagiarism over a 30-year academic career, including her Ph.D. dissertation at the outset of her career, through “her final academic paper before becoming dean and then president,” said Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. As would eventually be discovered, 50 instances of plagiarism plagued Gay’s work, including in the acknowledgement of her dissertation. The acknowledgement? Smacks of severe laziness. Incredibly, Gay’s dissertation won her the Toppan Prize for best dissertation or essay at Harvard. Who conducted source verification?

“Students, who for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including requirement to withdraw from the College.” This is a direct quote from the Harvard plagiarism policy. Rufo researched the policy from 1995 and 1998 when Gay wrote her Ph.D. dissertation and found Gay clearly violated Harvard’s plagiarism policy. (https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/harvard-plagiarism-policy) 

Part of Harvard’s motto or credo includes the word veritas, truth in Latin. “Does Harvard value veritas, or truth, or does Harvard value DEI and having the right race or gender symbolism at the top of its university hierarchy? You can only pick one in this case,” said Rufo.

One of Gay’s plagiarism victims is esteemed academician Dr. Carol Swain, holder of five college degrees, including a B.A. from Roanoke College in criminal justice, an M.A. from Virginia Tech in political science, a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in political science, and an MSL from Yale. After earning tenure at Princeton University, Swain served as a full professor at Vanderbilt University teaching political science and law. Currently, Swain is a senior fellow at the Institute for Faith and Culture.

“From my perspective, if there was harm to me, it was because I lost out on a lot of citations, and in academia… it’s all about the citations. If people are not citing their work, that harms you. She [Gay] has one cit[ation], in most of the articles, but the work is clearly derivative of my research. It’s not pathbreaking. She did not  meet the standard I had to meet to get tenure at Princeton,” said Swain during her December 20 appearance on Newsmax’s “National Report.”

Examples of Gay’s “work” and that of Swain’s side by side depict almost identical passages, save for some punctuation. Swain called for Gay to resign or for Harvard to fire her in mid-December. At the time the Harvard board stood by Gay, in spite of her appalling appearance before the Education Committee and what the board called “instances of inadequate citation,” which, in reality, was overwhelming and damning evidence of plagiarism.

Asked if she had heard from Harvard, Swain said, “no, I have not heard from Harvard. The focus I want to direct people’s attention to is the fact that Claudine Gay, and I’m not going to call her ‘Dr. Gay,’ because it’s clear she plagiarized her dissertation, and in academia you have to write a dissertation and successfully defend it before a committee before you become a doctor [Ph.D.], and that dissertation is supposed to contain some original work. You have to do something that hasn’t been done before…. She presented a dissertation that had plagiarism in it, she became a professor with research that… [was] plagiarized. No, she does not belong as the president of Harvard or any college and university,” said Swain.

Newsmax, during the same “National Report,” showed additional so-called work by Gay side by side with the writing of Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam entitled “Race, Sociopolitical Participation, and Black Empowerment.” The passages were virtually identical with merely cosmetic changes to a word or two.

“And now we know that she even plagiarized the acknowledgement of her dissertation. That’s where you thank the people that helped you. She has two sentences that are verbatim, pretty much, other than switching the names of the people you thank, from someone else’s work,” said Swain. “This is sad. It’s sad for American education. It’s bigger than me. That the implication of Harvard’s lack of action against Claudine Gay will affect American higher education as well as K through 12 because Harvard University [is trying to] redefine plagiarism. They’re trying to cover for her,” Swain concluded.

And in the category of “splitting hairs,” is the defense of Gay by CNN’s “News Central” reporter Matt Egan. “Claudine Gay has had to issue corrections; multiple corrections. Now, we should note that Claudine Gay has not been accused of stealing anyone’s ideas in any of her writings. She’s been accused of - sort of - more like copying other people’s writings without attribution,” said Egan, with a straight face on Tuesday January 2. Gay has, in fact, been accused of stealing, by Swain above, at the very least. This is a clear case of the theft of intellectual property. And, did Egan sleep in on the day plagiarism was taught in journalism school?

But to what end? Clearly the scandal of Claudine Gay is damaging to the reputation of Harvard University because that institution created Gay. Bowing at the altar of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and ensuring Gay checked the correct boxes, she found herself president of Harvard University. How carefully was her dissertation examined? Or any of her other writings? There don’t seem to be that many of them. There were also a number of honor’s students seeking Gay’s removal knowing the impact such a scandal could have on their own futures.

Yet an unrepentant Gay has decided to martyr herself on the throne of victimhood. From her letter of resignation, Gay writes, “...it has been distressing to have doubts cast upon my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor - two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am - and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”

Lacking from Gay’s letter includes words of apology for violating both “confronting hate and… upholding scholarly rigor.” Attacks against Gay should not have been personal, but instead, professional, for which her works are fair game. Any racial animus Gay may have suffered does not seem to have been made public, yet if any exists either publicly or privately are completely uncalled for.

If Gay is a victim of anything, it is the DEI system that promoted her to Harvard president in the first place. Diversity for diversity’s sake is not progress. It’s an admission that box checking is more important than merit and bona fide credentials - verified and vetted to avoid such scandals as this one. The DEI model itself, akin to affirmative action, does more harm than good - propping up someone with expectations perhaps unreachable. Racism did not cost Gay her job, but it may have gotten it for her. But in the long run, Gay is a victim of her own making, responsible for her own actions; for taking easily discernible shortcuts.

On “Outnumbered” on Wednesday January 3, Dagen McDowell said, “let me quote Coleman Hughes who is a CNN analyst, who’s a terrific author: ‘Claudine Gay has no one to blame but herself. She chose an easy path of plagiarism - 50 times - over the hard path of writing original prose. It’s a pattern of serious fraud, plain and simple. This moment is a useful litmus test - anyone who is blaming Gay’s resignation on other factors, right wingers or racism, is nuts and can safely be ignored for the rest of time.’” Hughes, who is Black, is also a Manhattan Institute podcast host.

Joy Reid on MSNBC said on Tuesday January 2, “There is this, sort of, open war on Black progress, Black history. Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, at least up until she resigned, is now the latest casualty of that.”

Hughes is absolutely correct. This is not about right wingers or racism. This is on Gay. She did not condemn Hamas, the anti-Semitism on campus, or the student groups blaming the October 7 invasion of Israel and the slaughter of more than 1,400 innocent civilians on Israel itself, not to mention the deplorable answers she provided regarding anti-Semitism and context. Gay did not stand up for, or defend, the Jewish students on her campus either. 

Rewarding Gay continuing her work as a professor of government and African and African American Studies is an insult to the other professors and students at Harvard. Keeping her nearly $900,000 salary? What a golden parachute. But allowing her to proceed with her teaching and indoctrinating more students is just wrong to its core - whether at Harvard, Hawaii, High Point, Hobart, Hofstra, Howard, or Hunter.

Race hustler Marc Lamont Hill said the next president of Harvard “MUST be a Black woman.” Well, Mr. Hill, you may not like this choice, but she certainly checks your boxes - Dr. Carol Swain. But would she really want to leave Nashville for the mess in Cambridge, Massachusetts?

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.