Interesting editorial column in today's Globe and Mail (a broadsheet of Canuckistani propaganda) about Philip Baker, the Alberta Dean who plagiarized his convocation speech. Some flava...
"one of our reigning pathologies, the North American mania for forgiveness."
"If morality comes to consist primarily in forgiving people for their immorality, then this is morality with a death wish. "
"For any society there are some offences that brook no tolerance. When that society is a university, plagiarism is such a taboo. "
"Plagiarism is different. It’s not just a crime at the university, it’s the crime against the university, the primordial academic offence. "
And of course, the full citation:
Forgive? Not a chance. The dean has to go
Clifford Orwin
Globe and Mail Update
Published Wednesday, Jun. 15, 2011 2:00AM EDT
THANK YOU for posing this.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has reaped no reward from never cheating my way through school, it's nice to hear this message sometimes when someone powerful and well-paid gets caught.
Just shoot him at the beginning of "Hockey Night in Canada" and all will be forgiven....
ReplyDeleteI feel a bit mean for saying this (which probably means that I, too, partake of the pathology), but I agree: he should lose at least his job, and probably his tenure as well. Politicians, CEOs of major corporations, etc., etc., may do this sort of thing all the time, but there are certain standards to which members of the academy are held, and not plagiarizing is one of the most basic. If tenure is going to be such a scarce commodity, the least we can do is hold those who have it to minimal standards.
ReplyDeleteStrelnikov, you think like a Canadian. (There is no higher praise.) :)
ReplyDelete@Strelnikov
ReplyDeleteBetter hurry - last game just started.
Set him loose amidst the riot taking place???
ReplyDelete@Merely Academic
ReplyDeleteMust be from watching too much SCTV, eh?
@The Contemplative Cynic
Then he might have escaped without saying a word.