2008 Woodie Awards
Faculty call for Poshard to resign
Faculty Senate postpones discussion of proposed SIU split
Catherine Klene
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: News
The SIUE Faculty Senate voted Thursday to call for Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard's resignation.
The vote comes after nearly two months of debate over instances of plagiarism in Poshard's 1984 doctoral dissertation. A plagiarism review committee made up of seven Southern Illinois University Carbondale faculty members determined Oct. 11 that the instances were considered "inadvertent plagiarism."
The committee recommended to the SIU Board of Trustees that Poshard correct the errors and that no further action be taken. The BOT passed a resolution endorsing the recommendations.
The committee's determinations and the BOT's actions have angered some faculty and students in the SIU system, prompting the Faculty Senate to move their scheduled November meeting to Friday. The results of the review committee and a petition to call for the SIUE's separation from the SIU system were the only items on the agenda.
Faculty Senate President Kay Covington said the Faculty Senate Executive Committee will meet this week to form an official statement expected to be released Thursday or Friday. Covington said the executive committee will use a document submitted at the meeting by University Archivist Steve Kerber to base their statement on.
Kerber submitted what he called "historical information" to the Faculty Senate, including plagiarism policies from the time when Poshard was working on his dissertation.
"I think what I did was provide some additional information to inform the discussion," Kerber said. "What I found, and what others found, is that the concept of plagiarism was very well known in the 1980s at American universities, and that grad students were then, as they are now, very well informed about what constitutes plagiarism, the need to avoid plagiarism and the need to pay a great deal of attention to the form of the dissertation."
Kerber said the call for resignation accurately reflected the disappointment of students and faculty at SIUE.
The vote comes after nearly two months of debate over instances of plagiarism in Poshard's 1984 doctoral dissertation. A plagiarism review committee made up of seven Southern Illinois University Carbondale faculty members determined Oct. 11 that the instances were considered "inadvertent plagiarism."
The committee recommended to the SIU Board of Trustees that Poshard correct the errors and that no further action be taken. The BOT passed a resolution endorsing the recommendations.
The committee's determinations and the BOT's actions have angered some faculty and students in the SIU system, prompting the Faculty Senate to move their scheduled November meeting to Friday. The results of the review committee and a petition to call for the SIUE's separation from the SIU system were the only items on the agenda.
Faculty Senate President Kay Covington said the Faculty Senate Executive Committee will meet this week to form an official statement expected to be released Thursday or Friday. Covington said the executive committee will use a document submitted at the meeting by University Archivist Steve Kerber to base their statement on.
Kerber submitted what he called "historical information" to the Faculty Senate, including plagiarism policies from the time when Poshard was working on his dissertation.
"I think what I did was provide some additional information to inform the discussion," Kerber said. "What I found, and what others found, is that the concept of plagiarism was very well known in the 1980s at American universities, and that grad students were then, as they are now, very well informed about what constitutes plagiarism, the need to avoid plagiarism and the need to pay a great deal of attention to the form of the dissertation."
Kerber said the call for resignation accurately reflected the disappointment of students and faculty at SIUE.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
It's about time...
posted 10/23/07 @ 11:29 AM CST
I agree that Poshard should resign. I cannot tell you how many times a syllabus that I received from SIU stated something like this, plagiarism is the intentional or INADVERTENT (unintentional) usage of material without properly citing the source. (Continued…)
Jim Brewer
posted 10/23/07 @ 2:23 PM CST
Current News: Maybe the Faculty Senate should worry more about the faulty graduation application and follow up class report that has effected students being able to graduate on time than trying to overide the SIU Board of Trustees! If SIUE wants to be separate from SIU I say go for it, just don't complain when it has ill effects financially and the growth at SIUE halts!
Alex Vires
posted 10/23/07 @ 6:02 PM CST
The Faculty Senate must really be high on themselves.
First, they think they can override the Board of Trustees, and then Ware stands on his soapbox and tries to incite a separation from the SIU System?
This is highly comedic at best. (Continued…)
Blatsin
posted 10/27/07 @ 11:36 PM CST
As an SIUE alumnus, I have always supported separating SIUE from the SIU System and making it its own university. The disturbing tolerance the SIU Board and the SIUC faculty have shown towards Mr. (Continued…)
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