Columbia University has declined to comment on recent reports that Monica Crowley, an appointee of President-elect Donald J. Trump, plagiarized portions of her 2000 Ph.D. dissertation at the university.
An examination of Ms. Crowley’s 2000 dissertation by Politico revealed more than a dozen instances of language and information that was either improperly cited or printed without attribution. Columbia University cited confidentiality concerns in a statement issued on Tuesday.
“We have no comment on Monica Crowley’s dissertation, which was submitted in 2000 and is publicly available,” Robert Hornsby, associate vice president for media relations, wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “The university’s process for addressing concerns raised about university research preserves the confidentiality of any review, and even the fact of a review’s existence is confidential while it is underway. Columbia is committed to upholding the very highest standards of integrity and credibility in academic research.”
It was the second report of plagiarism this week for Ms. Crowley, whom Mr. Trump picked as director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, a position that does not require Senate confirmation. Ms. Crowley has not commented on either report.
Ms. Crowley’s dissertation, “Clearer Than Truth: Determining and Preserving Grand Strategy: The Evolution of American Policy Toward the People’s Republic of China Under Truman and Nixon,” was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements toward her Ph.D. in international relations at Columbia. CNN reported on Saturday that Ms. Crowley had plagiarized more than 50 pages of her 2012 book, What the (Bleep) Just Happened? The book’s publisher, HarperCollins, has since said it would stop selling the book.
