Renowned researcher from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, Rachel Hardeman, announced her resignation amidst plagiarism allegations earlier this week.
A former colleague of Hardeman’s, Brigette Davis, posted on LinkedIn on Monday, accusing her of plagiarizing her dissertation about birth outcomes in a grant submitted to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Davis said her dissertation was copied word-for-word with a few changes to fit Hardeman’s grant.
“When I say ‘verbatim’ I mean, she performed a find+replace in my document, and replaced all instances of ‘Mike Brown’ with ‘Philando Castile,’ and all instances of ‘St. Louis, Missouri,’ with ‘Minneapolis, Minnesota,’ and submitted this to the NIH as if it were her own,” Davis said in the LinkedIn post.
Hardeman studied health and racial equality and was the director of the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity, where she researched health inequities between races. Time Magazine also included her in its list of 100 Most Influential People in 2024.
Davis said in the post that the theft occurred in 2019 but did not learn about it until 2023 when Hardeman invited her to join her team in working on the project she plagiarized from Davis.
Hardeman denied the allegations in a statement to the Minnesota Daily on Wednesday.
“The allegations against me are completely false. I made a mistake in not attributing something – I am human – and when it was brought to my attention, I corrected it immediately,” Hardeman said.
Jake Ricker, a representative from the University, confirmed the complaint against Hardeman in an email to the Minnesota Daily, but could not provide further details because of privacy laws.
Davis said Hardeman invited her to leave her postdoctoral fellowship to work on the project at the University. Upon reading the project proposal, she found the grant to be very similar to her work.
“Imagine my shock and disbelief when reviewing the proposal for my new project at my new job, to find my words, my equations, my grammatical mistakes, even my funny formatting decisions I’d done to add emphasis,” Davis said.
Tanisha
Apr 28, 2025 at 12:29 pm
Evil to the core. Stepping on the people who looked up to her just to get ahead. Woman of the year my ass. What a con artist.
Ally
Apr 24, 2025 at 8:32 am
Found the Isnotraeli in the comment section lol
Sophie
Apr 23, 2025 at 11:34 am
Anti Jewish is not the same as Anti Israel, and conflating the two is a disservice to Jews everywhere who are committed to promoting peace and coexistence around the globe.
Not saying what Hardeman did is right but calling her an antisemite just totally throws off the topic of conversation and makes the valid accusations against her look ridiculous
suggestion
Apr 23, 2025 at 8:46 am
Once place Cunningham could do some clean up is to end the UMN contract with ICE that allows ICE to practice at UMN owned gun-ranges. Btw, who even knew UMN owned gun ranges??
Take note, Pres. Cunningham – there is a lot more you could be doing, and should be doing, frankly, to keep your community safe.
TA
Apr 22, 2025 at 2:49 pm
Angry Gopher –
I don’t remember claiming that.
Consider that before this plagiarism came to light, her research was completed discredited.
Name once piece of legitimate scholarship that’s come from these “Y’all be doin a racism” studies departments?
TA
Apr 22, 2025 at 1:56 pm
@TA –
I know. People like you have so little to offer the world.
@TA
Apr 22, 2025 at 9:54 am
Thank you, TA! I will keep it up!
KG
Apr 22, 2025 at 9:44 am
Thomas Kaphings reveals that Rachel Hardeman swindled Blue Cross and Blue Shield out of $5 million to establish her Center. Incredible—a true con artist! So, in addition to her blatant plagiarism and anti-Semitism (see my previous post on this thread), Hardeman is now exposed as a scammer. Just imagine what the U could have accomplished with that money instead of funding her charade. Rebecca Cunningham, take heed—the rot at UMN runs deep, and you have a monumental task ahead of you to root it out. Time to start the cleanup!
Angry Gopher
Apr 21, 2025 at 6:10 pm
TA – Just because you say something doesn’t mean it’s true. Hope that helps.
Simon Marcus
Apr 20, 2025 at 2:05 pm
An offense that goes unmentioned is folly. You plagiarize someone’s work, then invite them to join your team, when they are bound to see the counterfeit? Poor planning!
TA
Apr 19, 2025 at 11:09 am
@John Galt –
Chant more slogans. You’re coming across really intelligently.
TA
Apr 18, 2025 at 4:59 pm
Angry Gopher – this is not an academic discipline as much as it is a bizarre religion. Hence the “unfalsifiable” bit.
@John Galt
Apr 18, 2025 at 8:15 am
said the white man on stolen land. lol but also freakin’ pathetic.
John Galt
Apr 17, 2025 at 4:37 pm
DEI = Didn’t Earn It
Twylah Keeler
Apr 17, 2025 at 1:37 pm
Can’t deny reality when it is virtually an exact replica of the original author. A few cut and paste tricks can’t hide the deceit.
lol
Apr 17, 2025 at 11:26 am
Big LMAO at KG using the US State Department’s new definition of antisemitism as if it isn’t just a tool to silence dissenters
Thomas Kaphings
Apr 17, 2025 at 11:22 am
2/24/2021….The U of M School of Public Health received a $5 million philanthropic gift from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota to establish the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity. A scam and a department that should be eliminated. Any chance Blue Cross Blue Shield gets their money back?
Angry Gopher
Apr 17, 2025 at 11:15 am
Plagiarism is not the same as falsification, TA. It is unfortunate, but it does not mean that academic disciplines should be reduced to the bad decisions of individual actors.
KG
Apr 17, 2025 at 7:33 am
We can say a hearty “good riddance” to Rachel Hardeman. Hardeman is anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. Rachel Hardeman is the Founding Director of the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity (CARHE). CARHE issued a statement on its LinkedIn page declaring an “ongoing genocide in Gaza” and that “everyone has a role to play in the work of antiracism.” Rachel Hardeman did not make the post, but she did give it a hearty “like.”
Furthermore, the U School of Public Health hosts a CARHE page that devotes a section to the “Ongoing Genocide in Gaza.” That section cites the article “The Struggle for Palestinian Liberation is Antiracism Work” published in Medium dot com, December 12, 2023. This is a false and skewed political statement, steeped in rabid anti-Israel bias. Hardeman wrote the following comment: “Grateful for the incredible scholars who contributed to this important statement.” This is another example of how U resources have been weaponized against Israel. Statements like these now blatantly contravene U policy per the recent Board of Regents decision. U administrators please take note.
Let’s remember that the US State Department defines antisemitism as including behavior “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
Hardeman has resigned because of plagiarism allegations not because of antisemitism. But, it’s safe to say that there are multiple reasons that it’s in the U’s interest that she is gone. It’s the epitome of hypocrisy that an anti-Semite like Rachel Hardeman includes “antiracism” in the name of her organization.
TA
Apr 17, 2025 at 2:47 am
Wow, it’s almost like this entire area of scholarship is a non falsifiable grift.
And she still has the audacity to claim it was an honest mistake that she copied someone else’s grant proposal verbatim. That really speaks to the level of intellectual dishonesty these people are capable of.