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When a popular professor was accused of plagiarizing content for aspeech and books he authored, Arizona State University had toconfront uncomfortable questions about what is simply carelesscopying and what is outright intellectual theft. Is it plagiarism, for example, when a speech contains many exactwords from a published article but the speaker never credits thesource? What about lifting entire passages from Wikipedia and usingthem, unattributed, in a book? Those were among the allegations from faculty members that led tothe investigation of history professor Matthew Whitaker's works.Whitaker denied plagiarizing. After reviewing the claims, an ASUcommittee concluded last month that Whitaker had not committed"systematic or substantial plagiarism," but it added that there are"reasons for concern about occasional carelessness in the use ofmaterials and sources and some less than optimal detail inattribution." For his part, Whitaker saw in his colleagues' assertions more thana desire to preserve intellectual integrity. In a letter to ASUduring the investigation, he said his accusers were "out to get me"because he is Black and they resented his promotion last year tofull professor. Whitaker declined requests for an interview but sent a statement to The Arizona Republic saying he was relieved that "the charges against me are unfounded"and wanted to move forward. ASU said the matter is now closed, but the incident continues toreverberate in the ASU history department. One history professor,who chaired a tenure committee, resigned from the committee inprotest over the university's decision. The dispute also igniteddebate among faculty over what crosses ethical and policy lineswhen it comes to using others' materials verbatim in print and inspeeches with little or no citation. Claims of plagiarism -- using someone's work and passing it off asyour own without referencing your source -- in written work orspeeches are not uncommon, although on university campuses much ofthe focus has been on detecting and preventing plagiarism bystudents. No one tracks plagiarism allegations in academia nationally, soit's hard to tell how often they occur or whether they're on therise, said John Curtis, research director for the AmericanAssociation of University Professors, which advocates for faculty.Occasionally, a case will make headlines, but others are treated asconfidential personnel matters, he said. Last year, two Universityof Kansas professors were censured for research misconduct afterthe university discovered four academic papers contained largeamounts of plagiarized text. Whitaker, 41, is considered a rising star in the academic world.The Arizona native, who has a Ph.D. in history, is a well-knownauthor and speaker on civil rights and racial equality. He is thefounding director of ASU's Center for the Study of Race andDemocracy, a research group. The conflict arose when Whitaker was being reviewed in 2011 for apromotion from associate professor to full professor. Some ASUfaculty opposed the promotion. Faculty members reviewed some ofWhitaker's unpublished and published work and, after his promotion,10 of them reported concerns of plagiarism to ASU President MichaelCrow. The university appointed a three-member committee composed ofhistorians, two from ASU and one from outside the university, toreview the matter. The committee examined allegations of plagiarism in six books orarticles by Whitaker and an October 2010 speech he gave at a rallyon the historical roots of Senate Bill 1070, Arizona'scontroversial immigration law. Some of the accusations focused on chapters that Whitakercontributed to an encyclopedia-style textbook for young readerscalled "African American Icons of Sport: Triumph, Courage, andExcellence." Several paragraphs on boxing icon Muhammad Ali andtennis stars Serena and Venus Williams were taken from Wikipedia. In a letter to ASU, Whitaker said he gave an outline to a freelanceeditor to fill in with facts and references and "unfortunately andunknown to me, the freelance editor inserted verbatim sections fromWikipedia and other online sources without rewording them andwithout quotations or attribution." He called the published errors"regrettable." In the speech, which is posted on YouTube, Whitaker speaks to acrowd at North High School in Phoenix. Portions of his remarksmatch or are similar to several paragraphs in a 2006 Washington Post story headlined "U.S. Immigration Debate is a Road Well Traveled"and generally are in the same sequence. In some places, Whitakeradds his own flourishes at the end of sentences or skips sentencesas they appear in the story. In the video, he does not mention thesource of the information. Jonathan Bailey, a former journalist who runs a copyright andplagiarism consulting business in New Orleans, examined Whitaker'sYouTube speech at the request of The Republic. His analysis using a computer software program found that about 30percent of Whitaker's speech was taken from other sources,including the newspaper article and a blog post from the anti-warwebsite The World Can't Wait. In his speech, Whitaker cites the blog's author at one point afterhe has quoted some of the material. Bailey said he could "pretty much read along" from the newspaperarticle as Whitaker spoke. For a university professor, that sets apoor example for students, Bailey said. "It's a very passionate and compelling speech," he said. "He saidhis points very, very well. It just happened to come from the Washington Post and a blog." In a letter to ASU, Whitaker questioned whether the political orracial aspect of the speech is what provoked his critics at theuniversity, not the alleged plagiarism. He wrote that he thinks itis unusual for speakers at public rallies to give citations. "I intended to mention the two sources I used, but in the passionof the moment, I think I forgot one name and mentioned the other,"he wrote. Plagiarism is generally an ethical and moral issue, and there isn'ta legal standard for what crosses the line, said Craig Newman, aformer journalist and a New York City attorney who does copyrightand intellectual-property work. Important factors to consider are the setting and circumstances ofthe alleged plagiarism, he said. In an academic environment, forinstance, where critical thinking and intellectual honesty andrigor are critical, there's a compelling argument that thestrictest of standards should be applied, he said. "Academic institutions should lead with best practices when itcomes to these matters," said Newman, who is chairman of theNational Board of Advisors of the Walter Cronkite School ofJournalism and Mass Communication at ASU. ASU's investigation was guided by the university's policy on"Misconduct in Research" and the American Historical Association'sprofessional-conduct standards. The three-member committee wasresponsible for looking at the extent of alleged misconduct, theindividual involved and the seriousness of the allegations. Theyconcluded the case did not rise to the level of researchmisconduct. "There are some concerns about Professor Whitaker's use of thelanguage of other scholars, yet we find that his intellectual debtsare made clear, his sources are referenced, and that there is nocompelling evidence of intent to deceive in any case," the reportstated. ASU professor Monica Green recently resigned as chairwoman of theHistory Promotions and Tenure Committee in protest of theuniversity's conclusions. Green headed the tenure committee during2011 when Whitaker was reviewed and promoted to professor. She saidthe investigation was "manipulated by the administration in a way Ifelt was guaranteed to produce the result." ASU officials said in a statement that the committee was composedof historians with excellent reputations who were not part of theschool in which Whitaker teaches. This was done to ensure a fairand independent review of the matter. Green wouldn't comment on whether she thought Whitaker's writtenwork or 2010 speech amounted to plagiarism. She was one of 10professors who signed a letter in 2011 expressing concerns withWhitaker's work. In the letter to ASU, Whitaker said his accusers were "out to getme" and that "the question of the motive of my accusers cannot beignored, including racial bias, resentment and harassment against ablack professor promoted to full professor over their objections." Green, who is Black, denied any racial motives. "The issue isprofessional competence and professional ethics, and that's all itis," she said. ASU professor Mark von Hagen, who was the director of the School ofHistorical, Philosophical and Religious Studies when theallegations were made, called the matter unsettling. "It's really pitted a lot of people against each other, and it'snot shown the best light of any of our colleagues. It's not goodfor the reputation of the departments," he said. Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 oranne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com. I am an expert from protectivephonecovers.com, while we provides the quality product, such as iPhone 3gs Protective Case Manufacturer , Samsung Tab Leather Cover Manufacturer, iPhone4 Leather Cases,and more.
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