Plagiarism- is it a crime?
Apparently, an OSU professor has been accused of plagiarism, an act he's been performing for years now. What do you guys think....should plagiarism be a crime?
Although this isn't in "Poll Vault" I'll also post an anonymous poll in this thread asking if you've ever plagiarized. Since it's anonymous, you should have nothing to lose!
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"Plagiarism claims prompt investigation at OSU
By Mick Hinton
The Oklahoman
STILLWATER - Allegations that an award-winning Oklahoma State University geography professor plagiarized several publications starting in the late 1970s prompted the university to open an investigation, officials confirmed Monday.
OSU professor George Carney is described as "a geographer whose verbatim copying appears to span his lengthy career," according to an article released Monday in The Chronicle of Higher Education, a national higher education publication based in Washington, D.C.
Carney, told The Oklahoman on Monday that he had a stroke two years ago and does not remember the circumstances of some of the articles in question, particularly those several years ago.
"Everything that happened during that time period is all kind of foggy and cloudy," he said. "It might be that I did this, but it was back in the days before word processing."
Carney said he used to write with two yellow legal pads. He would write the text in longhand on one pad and the footnotes on the other.
"I was trained as an academician to always footnote everything. But it could be something happened between the time I wrote the text and footnote, and it did not end up in the final text," he said.
"If these allegations are true, then I would apologize to my colleagues, my department and OSU, because I would in no way want to create any kind of negative impact upon the Department of Geography or to my institution, OSU."
The Chronicle cites seven instances when it alleged Carney had lifted material without crediting the authors.
"Among the most blatant borrowings is a 180-word passage that is appropriated almost verbatim, down to the random examples, the conjunctions, and the commas," the Chronicle reports.
Last year, Carney edited a book on the geography of American music. The Chronicle story by Thomas Bartlett and Scott Smallwood alleges that Carney stole the words of "no fewer than three authors" in the publication. The back cover of the book dubs the professor as "American geography's leading musicologist."
In 1999, cultural geographer Carney received the Oklahoma Medal for Excellence in teaching on the university level. He is considered a national authority on jazz, rhythm and blues and all varieties of country music.
Carney has been with OSU since 1969.
OSU spokesman Nestor Gonzales said the case was turned over to Stephen McKeever, vice president of research, who has put together a three-member committee to examine the allegations. Carney said this committee of peers is made up of all regents professors.
McKeever would not comment on the investigation or say when it might be concluded. He noted the title of regents professor is the highest honor bestowed upon instructors.
Carney is continuing to serve as a professor and is scheduled to teach three classes next semester. Gonzales said, "These are only allegations contained in a newspaper article."
OSU President David Schmidly did not want to comment.
Dale Lightfoot, chairman of the OSU geography department, said, "We are as much surprised by this as anyone else. We are impacted by it; we are embarrassed by it.
"It is sad that such a long and illustrious career has been stained by something like this," Lightfoot said. "But if (Carney) has done what they said, we will certainly root it out.
"This is being treated seriously," he said. "I can tell you that."
Originally Posted by Patrick
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