2008 Woodie Awards
Poshard should be held to SIU standards
Letter to the editor
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: Opinion
This past summer I turned in what I believed to be the final copy of my senior assignment. As most students and faculty know, most majors require this course in order to graduate. After meeting with the chair of my department about my senior assignment it was determined that I was in violation of the school academic policy regarding plagiarism as detailed in the student handbook and that I would receive a grade of F for this course.
Before I continue I would like to say that I believe the course my department took to approach this situation, as well as the process during my allegations, was handled extremely professionally.
Just because one does not intend to plagiarize, this does not mean that an act of plagiarism cannot occur. Regardless of whether my plagiarism was intentional or not, this does not affect the fact that plagiarism occurred. The school's policy on plagiarism is clearly defined and leaves little room for interpretation.
While I have not seen a copy of Dr. Poshard's doctoral dissertation, nor the evidence that he did in fact plagiarize his dissertation, in the week following these allegations, I have not read any comments from him in any local newspaper where Poshard has admitted to the allegations of plagiarism, but I have read many times "although errors may have occurred, I did not plagiarize."
It seems to me that the president of our university feels that he is somehow classified under a certain set of guidelines than all other students and faculty at SIU, or he does not clearly understand the definition of plagiarism. In the Thursday, Sept. 6 edition of the Alestle, there was an article stating that Dr. Poshard has agreed to make revisions to his dissertation. The policy regarding plagiarism does not mention that students are able to make corrections, but does give a very clear list of the possible consequences. Therefore I cannot help but wonder why Dr. Poshard is agreeing to make the necessary revisions in his paper, while I was not given the option for revision. If there is no plagiarism in his dissertation like he states, then why is he voluntarily revising it?
Before I continue I would like to say that I believe the course my department took to approach this situation, as well as the process during my allegations, was handled extremely professionally.
Just because one does not intend to plagiarize, this does not mean that an act of plagiarism cannot occur. Regardless of whether my plagiarism was intentional or not, this does not affect the fact that plagiarism occurred. The school's policy on plagiarism is clearly defined and leaves little room for interpretation.
While I have not seen a copy of Dr. Poshard's doctoral dissertation, nor the evidence that he did in fact plagiarize his dissertation, in the week following these allegations, I have not read any comments from him in any local newspaper where Poshard has admitted to the allegations of plagiarism, but I have read many times "although errors may have occurred, I did not plagiarize."
It seems to me that the president of our university feels that he is somehow classified under a certain set of guidelines than all other students and faculty at SIU, or he does not clearly understand the definition of plagiarism. In the Thursday, Sept. 6 edition of the Alestle, there was an article stating that Dr. Poshard has agreed to make revisions to his dissertation. The policy regarding plagiarism does not mention that students are able to make corrections, but does give a very clear list of the possible consequences. Therefore I cannot help but wonder why Dr. Poshard is agreeing to make the necessary revisions in his paper, while I was not given the option for revision. If there is no plagiarism in his dissertation like he states, then why is he voluntarily revising it?
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
pam gronemeyer
posted 9/13/07 @ 5:08 PM CST
David,
I agree with you. We have to hold everyone accountable no matter what their titles are for their transgressions. I think that Dr. Poshard needs to be held to the same standard that students are. (Continued…)
SIUE Alum
posted 9/17/07 @ 10:14 AM CST
I agree. It seems given the current situation SIU is in, David should be allowed to re-write his final paper (and of course he should be reimbursed for his tuition), Dr. (Continued…)
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