A Danish data scientist touted by rightwing activist Christopher Rufo as an expert critic of former Harvard President Claudine Gay collaborated with several scholars broadly criticized as eugenicists.
Jonatan Pallesen was cited by Rufo in his newsletter and in the Manhattan Institute's City Journal website last Friday, yet Rufo neglected to mention that Pallesen's own work was co-authored with eugenicist scientists—and subject to separate expert criticism for faulty methods. Rufo platformed and interviewed Pallesen, who claimed there were “very basic” errors in Claudine Gay's PhD dissertation.
Gay, who is Black, wrote her dissertation on Black voters and electoral politics. She was also the first Black president of Harvard in its nearly 400-year history. Gay resigned from her post after six months on the job, after a controversial congressional hearing in which she appeared to dodge questions about whether Harvard would protect students who seemed to call for the genocide of Jews. Gay and the two other university presidents who formed the congressional witness panel faced extensive backlash and calls for their resignations; Rufo launched an investigation into Gay's scholarly work shortly after.
