2008 Woodie Awards
SIU faculty, review panel discuss plagiarism decision
Matthew Schroyer
Issue date: 10/30/07 Section: News
The panel that reviewed Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard's 1984 doctoral dissertation held their ground noon Wednesday in Carbondale, addressing faculty from Edwardsville and Carbondale campuses.
The panel defended their decision of categorizing instances of plagiarism in Poshard's dissertation as "inadvertent," and described the issue of plagiarism as not "black and white."
"We chose the category 'inadvertent plagiarism' because that appears to be through all the information we have collected and discerned, the best way to categorize what we saw in that particular document," Peggy Stockdale, panelist and director of the applied psychology program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said. "This is the same kind of concept that we believe every student should be afforded, if they are charged with a similar allegation."
The panel urged that punishments for plagiarism should be seen on a continuum, and that the exact punishment should be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The debate was a departure from the originally scheduled fall faculty meeting in Carbondale. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee scrapped the regularly scheduled meeting in favor for a town hall meeting format. SIUE Faculty Senate members were invited, and live video of the meeting was transmitted to the third-floor conference room in Lovejoy Library and to SIU's Springfield campus.
One SIUC faculty member welcomed others to join her in signing a petition for Poshard's resignation. Mary Lamb, an SIUC English professor, said she stood in "very respectful, but absolute opposition" to the findings of the panel.
"I would invite any of you to join me in signing a petition or standing with my colleagues in the Faculty Senate in Edwardsville to ask for the president's stepping down," Lamb said.
SIUE's Faculty Senate voted 45-5 in favor of Poshard's resignation Oct. 18, seven days after the panel found instances of "inadvertent plagiarism" in Poshard's dissertation.
Lamb said she opposed the findings because intent cannot be determined, and because of Poshard's level of education at the time he wrote the dissertation.
"I think we have to be much, much stronger, and much more disciplinary when it comes to advanced degrees," Lamb said.
While some faculty members have questioned the panel's rulings and others have embraced it, there was unanimous agreement that students need to be taught better how to avoid plagiarism.
"We have failed to help our colleagues develop (methods) that are appropriate to helping our students avoid plagiarism," Jim Allen, director of SIUC's core curriculum said. "I think we need to do more as an institution."
The panel defended their decision of categorizing instances of plagiarism in Poshard's dissertation as "inadvertent," and described the issue of plagiarism as not "black and white."
"We chose the category 'inadvertent plagiarism' because that appears to be through all the information we have collected and discerned, the best way to categorize what we saw in that particular document," Peggy Stockdale, panelist and director of the applied psychology program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said. "This is the same kind of concept that we believe every student should be afforded, if they are charged with a similar allegation."
The panel urged that punishments for plagiarism should be seen on a continuum, and that the exact punishment should be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The debate was a departure from the originally scheduled fall faculty meeting in Carbondale. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee scrapped the regularly scheduled meeting in favor for a town hall meeting format. SIUE Faculty Senate members were invited, and live video of the meeting was transmitted to the third-floor conference room in Lovejoy Library and to SIU's Springfield campus.
One SIUC faculty member welcomed others to join her in signing a petition for Poshard's resignation. Mary Lamb, an SIUC English professor, said she stood in "very respectful, but absolute opposition" to the findings of the panel.
"I would invite any of you to join me in signing a petition or standing with my colleagues in the Faculty Senate in Edwardsville to ask for the president's stepping down," Lamb said.
SIUE's Faculty Senate voted 45-5 in favor of Poshard's resignation Oct. 18, seven days after the panel found instances of "inadvertent plagiarism" in Poshard's dissertation.
Lamb said she opposed the findings because intent cannot be determined, and because of Poshard's level of education at the time he wrote the dissertation.
"I think we have to be much, much stronger, and much more disciplinary when it comes to advanced degrees," Lamb said.
While some faculty members have questioned the panel's rulings and others have embraced it, there was unanimous agreement that students need to be taught better how to avoid plagiarism.
"We have failed to help our colleagues develop (methods) that are appropriate to helping our students avoid plagiarism," Jim Allen, director of SIUC's core curriculum said. "I think we need to do more as an institution."
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