Harvard Diversity and Inclusion chief accused of plagiarism

Harvard's director of diversity and inclusion, Sherri Ann Charleston, is facing several accusations of plagiarism. A complaint that arrived anonymously at the university records at least 40 accusations against Charleston.

Free Beacon, which had access to the letter, did an analysis of the works published by the director and, allegedly, found signs of plagiarism.

"In her 2009 dissertation, submitted to the University of Michigan, Charleston quotes or paraphrases nearly a dozen scholars without proper attribution, the complaint alleges. And in her sole peer-reviewed journal article—coauthored with her husband, LaVar Charleston, in 2014—the couple recycle much of a 2012 study published by LaVar Charleston, the deputy vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, framing the old material as new research." explained Free Beacon.

"She took credit for her husband's work"

In that sense, the media outlet detailed that "Through that sleight of hand, Sherri Ann Charleston effectively took credit for her husband's work."

"The 2014 paper, which was also coauthored with Jerlando Jackson, now the dean of Michigan State University's College of Education, and appeared in the Journal of Negro Education, has the same methods, findings, and description of survey subjects as the 2012 study, which involved interviews with black computer science students and was first published by the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education," Free Beacon added.

The accusations against Charleston come just after Claudine Gay, former president of Harvard, was also investigated for alleged plagiarism.

One complaint, also obtained by the Free Beacon, included more than 40 accusations of plagiarism against the former Harvard president. "The full list of examples spans seven of Gay's publications—two more than previously reported—which comprise almost half of her scholarly output," the Free Beacon detailed.