The decline and fall of Harvard’s president

When it comes to scandals, the drip-drip-drip kind can prove deadly. Embarrassments accrue; the mess metastasises. So it was with Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University. Revelations of plagiarism in her academic work were first publicised weeks ago. But more kept surfacing. The latest allegations, published on January 1st in the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative outlet, brought the total to several dozen. The next day she resigned, a mere six months into her post—the shortest tenure in Harvard’s history. She determined that this was in the university’s best interests. Harvard’s provost, Alan Garber, will fill the job on an interim basis.