Thursday, December 16, 2004

Hating Stephen Ambrose

Some people are just cold. In his piece on plagiarism, School for Scandal: Revisiting Ambrose, Bellesiles, Ellis, and Goodwin, David Greenberg cackles:

For all the media hysteria that standards had fallen, it should be noted that Bellesiles was stripped of his job, Ellis suspended for a year, and Goodwin bounced from the PBS NewsHour and the Pulitzer Prize board. These were all perfectly appropriate punishments. Ambrose, as an author who simply didn't care about his scholarly reputation anymore and who could get paid handsomely for cookie-cutter best sellers, seemed distressingly beyond penalty. But, a lifelong smoker who had testified in court on behalf of big tobacco, he died of lung cancer in October 2002.

Sheesh!

Greenberg's contention that plagiarism in the academic world can be dealt with by liberal use of good old fashioned "shunning" seems to be undercut by a piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Four Academic Plagiarists You've Never Heard Of: How Many More Are Out There?

Be sure to keep track of your dissertation. It may be being ripped off as you read this.

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