You are right, that is a fine piece on her plagiarism and on

the reasons why there was so much resistance to "owning" it. The writer is rightly critical of the hypocrisy of her defenders.

About outside critics: on the one hand, it is true that the motive of the messenger doesn't really matter to the truth of the accusation. I'm sure Rufo has what I would call malign intent. Ultimately irrelevant. Professional dishonesty in the worlds of science and scholarship can't be rationalized away, though there are doubtless degrees of gravity. On the other hand, it is alto true that universities -- and I don't just mean the Ivies plus Stanford -- are under severe pressures from the right wing to succumb to what the business world would call a hostile takeover attempt. It's a grave threat to their mission and must be resisted. Donors can't appoint faculty -- or remove them.

I started this thread not with plagiarism in mind but regarding why universities have fallen into a pit of their own making. The temptation to pontificate on the problems of the day, joined with pedagogical pampering and identity politics, explains a lot to me.