Though Wente did her undergraduate college studies in Ann Arbor, Michigan, every year from May through August she returned to Toronto to serve tables at The Coffee Mill, a Hungarian restaurant in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood: After graduating from University of Michigan, she felt that the U.S. was in a "dark phase, torn apart by the politics of Vietnam";[4] she chose to live and work in Canada.
[7] Wainio documents on her blog, Media Culpa, a series of columns and articles published from 2009 to 2012, which plagiarize sources including the Ottawa Citizen, the New York Times and Foreign Affairs.
[8][9] On 21 September 2012, the Globe and Mail's public editor addressed the allegations, conceding that "there appears to be some truth to the accusations but not on every charge".
Editor John Stackhouse acknowledged that "the journalism in this instance did not meet the standards of The Globe and Mail", noting that the work in question was "unacceptable".
[16] Wente's column was subsequently referred to as "irresponsible nonsense" by fellow journalists Toula Drimonis and Ethan Cox.
[18] Her appointment caused an uproar among faculty and students, both because of past allegations against her of plagiarism, and due to her writings on issues of race and gender.
[19] University of Toronto professor Alissa Trotz resigned from her senior fellowship as well as her positions on the college's Governing Board and Governance and Nominating Committee[18] in protest of what she called the college's "non-transparent mechanisms of selection,"[20] referring to Wente as "someone who has demonstrated consistent and outright hostility to questions of equity, women and gender studies and anti-racism, and moreover someone who has demonstrated such a glaring lack of professional integrity.
[22][23] On 22 June 2020, Wente wrote the college's governing council to inform them of her resignation from the position,[19] stating "I do not wish to be a member of the Quadrangle Society.
[21] In July, historian Margaret MacMillan resigned her senior fellowship in protest of the college's decision to review Wente's appointment.