Dr Carol Swain: Plagiarism and the Death of Academic Integrity

On 15 October 2025 Professor Norman Fenton interviewed Dr. Carol Swain in advance of her Cambridge University Union debate about Black Lives Matter.

Dr. Swain is one of America’s most respected conservative scholars. After early tenure at Princeton, she joined Vanderbilt University, where she taught political science and law until retiring in 2017.

Among her many publications, her widely acclaimed 1993 book 'Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress' is especially important as it challenged the prevailing progressive narrative that black voters were better represented by black congressmen. The book won national awards and has been cited in US Supreme Court cases.

In 2023 the book came to prominence again when it was revealed that Harvard President Claudine Gay had plagiarised portions from it in her PhD. Dr. Swain wrote a book in 2025 'The Gay Affair' which chronicles this plagiarism case and the more general issue of academic corruption.

In this interview Dr. Swain describes her upbringing in abject poverty and her rise to prominence against all odds.

Topics discussed:
- Why Carol rejects affirmative action
- The impact of the book Black Faces, Black Interests
- The Gay Affair
- Carol's Christian faith
- Replacement theology and antisemitism
- BLM

Related article https://expose-news.com/2025/11/01/the-price-for-being-a-black-conservative/

Sources and resource:
- Original video https://youtu.be/7Rt67PleHAc
- Professor Norman Fenton on Substack https://substack.com/@normanfenton292526