What defines plagiarism? According to the dictionary plagiarism is "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work."
At SIU-E we understand the fact that there is a strict policy about plagiarism. As stated on the Love Joy library portion of SIUE.edu plagiarism is a serious academic offense. "Normally a student who plagiarizes shall receive a grade of E [F EFFECTIVE FALL 2001] in the course in which the act occurs. The offense shall also be reported to the Provost. In addition, any graduate student who has been found to have committed an act of plagiarism may be dropped from his or her graduate degree program by his or her department. A student who is reported a second time shall be suspended from the University for a period of not less than one term. Should a student who has been suspended for plagiarism be readmitted and be again found guilty of the offense, he/she shall be permanently expelled from the University"("Plagiarism"; par. 2).
The consequences seem to be substantial and the plagiarist would be deserving of each consequence per offense. Right now SIU has a board of trustees at the Carbondale and Edwardsville campuses who have a so-called "working guide" on the plagiarism policies. However, the President of the Carbondale campus, Glendon Poshard, was accused in early August this year for plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation. It has also been made known that he plagiarized parts of his masters theses as well.
Speaking for the University as a whole it gains my concern because when others look at our university or students consider attending any of the SIU campuses these questions arise: What kind of University are we running? Are we promoting plagiarism by letting Poshard have a second chance to revise his papers? Why does he not get a failing grade on them? Should he really have the degrees that he has? Did he actually earn his degrees since he took credit for another's work? I am not the only one who has concern about how our university looks due to this scandal, others include my English professor as well as several of my classmates.
I have looked at both the SIUE and SIUC websites and my findings on plagiarism differed ironically enough even though the board of trustees are faculty members on both campuses. Has the plagiarism policy been revised at SIUC since this scandal begun in August or has it been like that all along? The policy at SIUC refers to how a student may be required to redo the entire assignment but if it is intentional the student may face harsher consequences. So who is the judge of whether Poshard intentionally or unintentionally plagiarized? Anyone after 20 years can say it was an accident and that policies have changed but I strongly believe plagiarism is exactly what it is, plagiarism no matter what the era may be. This question also arises when I read Faculty Review Committee Report, Oct. 11, 2007: Why does the committee recommend that no further action, such as a formal hearing, be taken? Do the members of the committee fear losing their jobs if Poshard is forced out of office as the President of SIU? Or is it so we can make our plagiarism policy better at SIU? I do not quite understand the reasoning for no need of an outside opinion.
If Poshard indeed purposely plagiarized his masters thesis and doctoral dissertation, is he as great of a leader as he is said to be? I do not believe so what-so-ever, what kind of a great leader is made out of one who plagiarizes to obtain their degrees? I believe that whoever he took credit from for his own work should be our President of SIU because they are the ones he took their hard, well planned and thought out work from. Anyone can make the mistake of plagiarism but when it was on two works in order to earn a degree that's where I gained interest in this scandal because I found it a bit odd that he has allegations against him for two works in order to gain very important degrees. So here is my question to you: Does Poshard deserve his place as President of SIU and should he have his degrees taken away from him?
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2 comments:
As a graduate teaching instructor at SIUC, please know that we share your frustration. I also want to note that, although official plagiarism policies may vary between the two schools, we do still have a policy in place. I have never let plagiarism slide in my class. I've never met an instructor here that has either (present administration and plagiarism panel excluded of course). The policy ultimately leaves it to the discretion of the instructor to decide on the punishment: anywhere from re-writing to failing them to reporting them to Judicial Affairs.
Perhaps if there were more conversation between SIUE and SIUC students, we could DEMAND the BOT listen to the concerns of the students like this class and countless others.
Anyway, keep up the good work! It was very nice to read the perspective of someone not at SIUC.
I do believe there SHOULD definitely be more communication between SIUE and SIUC because we are not rival schools, shouldn't we follow the same policies as one another if we are in the same network but different locations.
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