REVEALED: The 'better-qualified' applicants Claudine Gay beat to become president of Harvard...after under-fire board member Penny Pritzker DIDN'T bother to review work later revealed as plagiarized

Harvard officials failed to conduct a review of ousted president Claudine Gay's plagiarized academic works before hiring her, a bombshell report has claimed.

Gay, 54, was instead chosen to lead the prestigious university thanks to her administrative experience, beating out two other candidates with far more extensive scholarly credentials, according to the Harvard Crimson. 

While Gay's career as a political scientist and administrator won her plaudits, she had few published works behind her - raising eyebrows when Harvard picked her over Tomiko Brown-Nagin and John F. Manning in July 2023. 

Brown-Nagin, the dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, is a recipient of the highest award in American History writing in the US, and is known as one of the top legal scholars in the nation. 

The same is said of Manning, who leads Harvard's law school after a career that saw him argue nine cases before the US Supreme Court and publish over 40 legal articles.

Claudine Gay, 54, resigned in January amid allegations of plagiarism and backlash to her disastrous Congressional hearing, where she failed to declare that calling for the genocide of Jews was a violation of Harvard's code of conduct 

Harvard's vetting process is facing scrutiny as Gay was selected for her administrative experience, passing over other candidates with better scholarly credentials including legal expert Tomiko Brown-Nagin 

John F. Manning (pictured), the dean of Harvard Law School, was also reportedly in the running before Harvard selected Gay as the new president 

The report comes just over a month after Gay dramatically resigned as president of Harvard in January, just six months into her tenure as the first black person to lead the university. 

She resigned following intense scrutiny over her past work, where she was accused of plagiarizing, or not properly citing, certain aspects of two published articles and her Ph.D dissertation. 

The allegations were supported by billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who shared his outrage at Gay's disastrous Congressional testimony in December over anti-Semitism on her campus. 

She sparked backlash as she failed to declare that calling for the genocide of Jews was a violation of Harvard's code of conduct. 

Gay subsequently resigned amid outrage over the two issues, with the plagiarism allegations raising questions as to how the scandal slipped under the radar before her appointment. 

The answer, according to the Crimson, stems from a lack of any scholarly review into her work by Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker and the presidential search committee. 

The outlet cited a person familiar with the vetting process that said the committee decided a thorough review wasn't necessary, due to Gay's experience as a successful administrator within the university. 

She had served as the dean of the Social Sciences department for three years and had been the FAS dean for five years. 

Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by DailyMail.com. 

The search committee is facing scrutiny for its process in selecting Gay - with the hunt for a new president reportedly now including Barack Obama

Dr. Alan Garber, Harvard's provost, has taken the helm in an acting capacity, and is currently the bookies favorite to take on the role full time

Gay's selection as the 30th president also reportedly lasted just five months, the shortest amount of time Harvard's presidential search committee has taken in almost 70 years. 

Dr. Alan Garber, Harvard's provost, has taken the helm in an acting capacity, and is currently the bookies favorite to take on the role full time - with other names floated as the next Harvard president including alum Barack Obama. 

It is unclear when the university will make its decision, as the vetting process that eventually landed on Gay reportedly first including around 600 nominations. 

The shortlist was then narrowed to 50 names, until Gay was among 12 finalists who made it to an interview. 

An insider to the process also reportedly claimed that the search committee intended to prioritize the scholarly credentials of its next president when the search began in 2022. 

However, after Gay was selected in December 2022 - six months before she began the role - priorities seemed to have shifted as former Princeton University president Shirley M. Tilghman, who was part of the process, said administrative experience was key.

She told the Crimson at the time: 'It is just too complicated a job for someone who has never had to deal with something as complicated as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

'So that eliminated some of the candidates who may have been extraordinary scholars, but really did not have the kind of depth of experience.' 

Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker (pictured) and the presidential search committee are under fire for the process used to select Gay 

It was also claimed by an insider who has served on several university presidential search committees that Harvard doesn't tend to conduct plagiarism checks on candidates, something other colleges do. 

The move led to Gay's undoing, as the search committee launched an independent review process only after the first allegations of plagiarism were made against Gay. 

The review determined that there were several instances of 'duplicative language' in her works, particularly a lack of proper citations to other academic writings. 

In response to Gay's public resignation, Harvard alumni formed a new group, the Black Alumnae of Harvard Equity Initiative (BAHEI), to demand the university stands behind its first black president.

The group penned a petition to the board this month, calling for DEI to be enshrined in almost all aspects of the university, including hiring professors and admissions from students. 

Among the demands include ensuring the 'narrative around Dr Gay's stepping down from the presidency is grounded in truth', and the creation of a 'DEI task force' on campus.