Time magazine editor-at-large and CNN host Fareed Zakaria, in the aftermath of the plagiarism problem that surfaced last month, in which an article he wrote on gun control for Time borrowed heavily from an article Jill Lapore wrote for the New Yorker, has apparently resigned from Yale University’s governing board to better focus on his work.
According to an article by Ann DeMatteo in the New Haven Register:
Fareed Zakaria, an editor-at-large at Time magazine and CNN host, on Monday resigned from the Yale Corporation. In a letter to Yale President Richard C. Levin, Zakaria said he needed to shed some responsibilities and focus more “on the core of my work.”
“My service at Yale is the single largest commitment of time, energy, and attention outside of my writing and television work. The work of the Yale Corporation needs and deserves such attention, but I simply do not have the capacity to do it and keep up with my main professional obligations,” he wrote.
Well perhaps. Realistically, however, service on a university board is not that much of a commitment. Most board members, particularly businessmen, have other very significant commitments (you know, real jobs) in addition to their board duties. But it was a little embarrassing for Yale to have someone so dishonored sticking around.
Then again, given the particularly embarrassing nature of his professional lapse, perhaps it does make sense for Zakaria to focus a little more on his job at this point.
Zakaria received a bachelor of arts from Yale University, 1986, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Political Monthly.
An editorial in the New Haven Register earlier in the week recommended that the journalist resign.
Yale President Richard Levin accepted the resignation, saying:
My colleagues and I are deeply grateful for Fareed Zakaria’s generous contribution of time and service to the Yale Corporation these past six years. His keen intelligence and broad knowledge of world affairs have enlightened our discussions, and his appearances on campus have benefitted our students and faculty. We will miss him as a colleague, a contributor and a friend.
He thanked Zakaria for his service to to Yale.
