Will Princeton Investigate Progressive Professor Kevin Kruse for Plagiarism?

You may know Princeton University history professor Kevin Kruse from social media, where he shares insightful comments, such as “Is there a contest to see who can be the stupidest member of Congress?” Such posts accumulate thousands of likes from his half-million followers. His Twitter is so far left that it makes Vox look conservative. You might also recognize Kruse from his guest appearances on MSNBC or his contributions to the New York Times 1619 Project. Now, he faces numerous allegations of plagiarism, a charge detailed by Phil Magness in Reason. Kruse’s doctoral dissertation and books include passages (even verbatim clauses) that are strikingly similar to previously published works, without appropriate quotation marks, proper citations, or footnotes. Surely, if the plagiarism allegations lacked any credibility, Kruse would want to immediately inform his many followers, but he hasn’t done so.

Plagiarism is a big deal for an academic. So is tenure, and Princeton recently fired a prominent tenured professor, not for plagiarism but, it has been suggested, on a pretext — the administration didn’t like his speech. While Princeton University purports to have a robust commitment to free speech, this commitment does not protect plagiarism. In 1893, undergraduate students formally established the honor system, which requires that students “must not violate the code, and as a community, they are responsible to see that suspected violations are reported.” Students must write, “I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination” on all in-class written examinations, tests, and quizzes. On all written submissions, students must affirm that “this paper represents my own work in accordance with University regulations.”

About the Author

Abigail Anthony

Abigail Anthony is a staff writer at National Review.

Featured Tags

You may know Princeton University history professor Kevin Kruse from social media, where he shares insightful comments, such as “Is there a contest to see who can be the stupidest member of Congress?” Such posts accumulate thousands of likes from his half-million followers. His Twitter is so far left that it makes Vox look conservative. You might also recognize Kruse from his guest appearances on MSNBC or his contributions to the New York Times 1619 Project. Now, he faces numerous allegations of plagiarism, a charge detailed by Phil Magness in Reason. Kruse’s doctoral dissertation and books include passages (even verbatim clauses) that are strikingly similar to previously published works, without appropriate quotation marks, proper citations, or footnotes. Surely, if the plagiarism allegations lacked any credibility, Kruse would want to immediately inform his many followers, but he hasn’t done so.

Plagiarism is a big deal for an academic. So is tenure, and Princeton recently fired a prominent tenured professor, not for plagiarism but, it has been suggested, on a pretext — the administration didn’t like his speech. While Princeton University purports to have a robust commitment to free speech, this commitment does not protect plagiarism. In 1893, undergraduate students formally established the honor system, which requires that students “must not violate the code, and as a community, they are responsible to see that suspected violations are reported.” Students must write, “I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination” on all in-class written examinations, tests, and quizzes. On all written submissions, students must affirm that “this paper represents my own work in accordance with University regulations.”