It turns out that SIU President Glenn Poshard committed “inadvertent plagiarism” in his doctoral dissertation, according to a committee of seven faculty members, chosen by one of Poshard’s underlings.
This is a hoot:
So, you’ve spent ~ 20 years in school, and need instruction on the meaning of plagiarism, or a student handbook reference? Howsabout a fucking dictionary? I think most institutes of higher learning have one or two!
Keeping this putz in place is an insult to honest faculty and alumni.
Fuck that. I don’t even accept the “I didn’t know what plagiarism was!” excuse from my college freshmen. Any graduate student who plagiarizes should absolutely have the hammer dropped on him. They should revoke his degree.
Do you really, in your little mind, think that the idea that MLK, Jr. or JFK who is also accused of having plagiarized, or had ghost written, his Pulitzer Prize winning work, is comparable to a pogrocket of a University President who plagiarized one of the key parts of his CV, which got him the job he has today?
Or are you saying we should just give up on this whole plagiarism thing anyways, since it’s too difficult to police, if a grad student can’t figure out how to avoid doing it by accident?
You ever hear the story about the student who stuck a $10 bill with a dated note in the middle of his dissertation, to be taken by the first person to actually read the thing?
I recently coined this word, as an insult that so far simply means “someone that Loki has taken a dislike to.” I like the sound of it, it’s euphonious when combined with other common curses, and even evocative I believe. It also avoids, I hope, any chance of being taken as a race or gender specific term. In the back of my mind, it’s coming to mean someone who promises great things, then betrays one by blowing up on the launchpad like a cheaply made rocket. Pogrocket.
Given all that, I intend to use it, in preference to my former generic insult: twithopper.
Call it a crusade! I will see the word “pogrocket” used as an insult in a major motion picture by the year 2012!
So, I have to start using it enough to get other people to notice and use it, too.
Well, Mr. Poshard has more in common with those other gentlemen than you might be aware of.
He was an Illinois politician before he became an academic. He was a U.S. representative,and made a serious run at the Democratic nomination for Governor.
As a college prof, I have seen the extraordinary increase in plagiarism among students’ work that has been widely reported. I don’t condone it.
However, all of us doing scientific research must review the work of those who came before us as part of the research process. That review is an ongoing, time consuming, complex process. I believe that through carelessness or hurry inadvertent plagiarism can occur. That is, you make notes from a source, failing to include the citation in your source and telling yourself that you will do so when you return the next day. The next day comes, the papers get shuffled, and the notes when reviewed later appear to be your own thoughts that you have jotted down. Careless, yes, but worthy of tarring and feathering, no. That is just one example of how it could happen.
I have come to believe that there are shades of grey when it comes to plagiarism.
What I described above is clearly plagiarism, but the consequences of having committed it should be evaluated in the context of the entire document.
Similarly, the links show clear examples of plagiarism in the dissertation, and there should be consequences for having done this. If the president is honorable, he would subject his work to the same sort of review/disciplinary process that I am sure is in place for students at SIU who are charged with plagiarism. And he should accept the punishment given him. Alternatively, he could subject himself to the process at the institution that awarded him his degree. I would be shocked if that review board would completely revoke a degree based on a first offense. Perhaps he would be asked to rework and resubmit his dissertation. Believe me, that will be a hell of a lot of work.
Students aren’t expelled for a first offense of plagiarism, he shouldn’t be fired for it.