Morning shorts
Tuesday, Sep 11, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson
* New allegations emerge as board backs SIU President
In an article published on its Web site Monday, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that a copy it obtained of Glenn Poshard’s 1975 master’s thesis on drug abuse and the document contained sentences found nearly verbatim in sources published earlier. The passages in Poshard’s thesis are neither in quotation marks nor attributed to other sources, according to The Chronicle.
The first two sentences in his thesis, for instance, read, “Drug abuse is not a new phenomenon in America. Various forms of drug abuse have existed for years in the United States and other countries,” according to The Chronicle. It compares that with two sentences from a 1969 U.S. government report that read, “Drug abuse is not a new phenomenon. Varying forms of drug abuse have been present for years in the United States and other countries.”
* SIU board backs Poshard after plagiarism claims
The university’s board of trustees discussed Poshard during a one-hour private meeting Monday, ultimately deciding that since taking over as the system’s president in January 2006, Poshard “has met and exceeded our every expectation and has this board’s full confidence.”
* Consumers begin digesting Ameren’s electric rate rebates
* Rebate checks being sent this week
* Ameren to announce rebate details
* Ameren starts sending out rebates this week
* CPS payroll glitches hit retirees
* City teachers OK contract
* Chicago Public Radio: Teachers contracts short on reform
* Mary Mitchell: Chicago’s perfect choice for top cop
* Editorial: Think twice before raising Cook Co. utility taxes
Cook County Commissioner William “The Hog” Beavers has declared an end to patronage in Cook County.
“There’s no more patronage,” Beavers said last week. “The county has been cut to the bone.”
No more patronage? Yeah, sure.
Beaver’s pronouncement came amid the county’s search for more revenue to support next year’s budget. An array of ideas has been proposed. Many of them fall into the “Let’s Stick It To The Citizens for Our Inability to Be Fiscally Responsible” file. In other words, taxes.
Beavers has proposed taxes on electricity and natural gas, and he’ll soon come up with a telecommunications tax. There also are proposals for taxes on cigars and loose tobacco. And officials reportedly also are considering increasing the county’s cigarette tax and sales tax.
* IRS hits Todd Stroger’s campaign for unpaid taxes
* Son of former Harvey mayor gets $400,000 settlement
* WurfWhile: Laesch opens campaign office in Aurora for votes
- Freezeup - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 8:12 am:
I’m sorry, but Mary Mitchell’s hypothesis that somebody started a smear campaign against Dana Starks and because she is African American must mean that she is qualified to be police chief because of that …. Jeez, that is just not much of a convincing argument. By the way, Los Angeles tried to “bridge the gap” with the minority community by appointing Willie Williams police chief. He was a disaster. Read the very well researched and yet entertaining book “Mexican Mafia” for a good look at gang crime and the all too political police and press response to it to understand why I would say that…
- Reddbyrd - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 8:17 am:
Wow those two lines are really profound. I cannot imagine anyone not thinking drugs. Drugs, like everything else in the society, have been abused almost as soon as they are invented
Meantime the Southern Illinoisan readder poll back Glenn b an 85-15 margin. Let’s move on to something more fun like Blinky Jim Edgar’s time sheets
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 8:43 am:
Is the Sun-Times still endorsing Todd Stroger?
- Bill - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 8:51 am:
Accusations of academic fraud should not be determined by a Southern Illinoisian reader poll. It is obvious from the few examples in the article that Glenn cheated on his masters thesis and got away with it so why not continue the cheating on his dissertation? It is much easier than doing the actual work himself.While prior bad acts may not be introduced as evidence in court it should be considered by whatever committee is formed to investigate. It indicates a pattern of cheating and dishonesty that should never be tolerated in academia.
Glenn might get a pass because he enjoys status as some kind of “King” in Southern Illinois. He will never again be respected as a scholar by his peers.
- fedup dem - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 9:06 am:
William Beavers saying there is no more patronage in Cook County is a very sick joke, much like the Commissioner himself!
- plutocrat03 - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 9:13 am:
It now becomes clear to me that someone is gunning for Mr. Poshard. It will be interesting to learn who and what their motivation is. I’ll bet a steak (or tofu) dinner that altruism is not the true reason for the accusations.
This shows how ugly it can be to have a life out on the public arena.
This also serves as an example of how it is difficult, (argueably more difficult in the ’soft’ sciences) to produce a piece of work which is uniqe, while using the same original literature as resources. How many different ways can you say the same thing?
The example of a non attributed phrase given in the Tribune article today is a joke. I could have come up with such a title about the subject without reading any of the literature. Would I have then been accused of plagiarism?
If the students/candidates are to be examined with this kind of scrutiny, then they should be provided the same computer program and database of literature so that they can themselves filter out these kinds of alllegations.
I have no fealty to Mr. Poshard or ties to that region. I would be the first to be concerned about a true case of plagiarism. So far what the media has presented to the northern end of the state is no example of plagiarism, but reeks of a personal attack.
- Squideshi - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 9:50 am:
The Illinois Green Party has launched a statewide campaign, called Power to the People, directly addressing these various energy issues. The campaign has been distributing this piece of literature (PDF) throughout the state.
- Bill - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 10:00 am:
Pluto,
Whether it is a personal attack or not the fact remains that he copied someone else’s work and put his own name on it. It doesn’t matter that you consider the copied work common sense or not. He cheated! If this was any other University president he would already be gone. The “Chronicle” is a national professional journal. They would not publish this article without a thorough investigation. They have no interest in personally attacking Poshard. He cheated and they reported it. I don’t really care whether he stays or goes but don’t try to claim that it is not important or that he isn’t guilty.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 10:17 am:
Those who do not see a problem with a university president found guilty of plagarism in his doctoral degree are fools.
Would you go to a physician whose medical degree is based on fraud?
Would you go to a church whose clergy is seen on “America’s Most Wanted”?
If SIU can turn a blind eye on this situation, then they are willfully blinding themselves into discredit. I do not want a degree from a university unwilling to stand up for academic excellence. A degree from SIU is worth less if Poshard stays. He represents intellectual dishonesty. He has to go.
I don’t care how we found out about his plagarism. The fact that it exists at all is the disqualifier. Even a popular politician like Poshard shouldn’t justify their univeristy position because they are popular because popularity isn’t why we hire university presidents.
When a university has fraud at it’s highest level, it is no longer a beacon of higher education.
He has to go.
- plutocrat03 - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 10:32 am:
Get a grip Bill.
Not including quotations in a section called REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE is not plagariism. Slopiness, likely. Could it have been done better, certainly. This is academic minutia at its best/worst.
While I am not familiar with the “Chronicle” I am sure that it along with the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post et. al. can and has gone off on a story which has no substance. Whether there are devious reasons for it of just plain sensationalism, time will tell.
What has been presented here in the north has certainly not been journalism.
I can do a case of ‘got ya’ journalism on most anyone and make them look bad. The real questions is why, and who is behind it.
- Bill - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 10:46 am:
The real question is NOT why and who. The real question is how the University can justify keeping a president who cheated on the two most important works in an academic career. What a suprise that the appointed Trustees gave Glenn a vote of confidence! Pluto keeps mentioning north and south. This has nothing to do with regionalism. Poshard cheated and is now lying about it. They flunk students and fire assistant professors and chancellors for the same or lesser offenses but its ok for Big Glenn because his “plate was full” and someone told him it was ok. Glenn’s mouthpiece asks …what’s next? are they gonna look at his term papers from Carmi high? Maybe they should. I could guess what they would find.
- cermak_rd - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 11:04 am:
SIU is a regional state university. Not Yale, not U of I, not UCLA or USC. The degree from SIU is valued at about the same as one from EIU or ISU or any other regional state university. I don’t think Poshard’s educational shenanigans will change that. I don’t care whether he stays or goes, in the greater scheme of things, happenings at SIU just aren’t that important. But, perhaps it’s a good object lesson to any student tempted to cheat that it will be possible years ahead to look back and be caught, even if your adviser lets it through.
- Cassandra - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 11:17 am:
Looky looky at all the tax increases our Democratic pols are cooking up for us in Cook County. A sales tax to support the patronage-ridden CTA and RTA. An increase in the real estate tax in Chicago. And Stroger/Beavers want to tax our electricity, natural gas, telecommications, cigarettes and who knows what else to support the more expensive than ever Democratic jobs farm that is Cook County government under Stroger Jr.
And doesn’t Mayor Daley want to increase property taxes?
It’s raining money on Democratic pols and their relatives and friends in Cook County. Cook County residents have to be the most pluckable group of
taxpayers in the country.
- Pat Collins - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 12:58 pm:
If Poshard’s thesis are so bad, how did he get his degrees? HE wasn’t exactly some one at PhD time, and certainly not in 1975.
So how crappy is SIU? Shouldn’t THAT be the issue? If the place ROUTINELY hands out crappy degrees?
Personally, I think 75% of thesis in “soft” subjects (esp those with heavy PC emphasis) can’t pass the “Poshard test”.
I doubt anyone will check, though.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 1:12 pm:
I suppose anyone who uses the phrase “Generation X” in print without explicitly attributing it to the author of the book by that name (whose name I unfortunately cannot recall at this moment) is guilty of plagiarism, huh? Or anyone who refers to junk e-mail as “spam” and doesn’t credit the authors of the Monty Python “spam” sketch? Or anyone who refers to someone as having the “right stuff” and doesn’t include a footnote to Tom Wolfe’s book? How far are we going to take this?
I once knew a person who any time he overheard anyone else refer to a subject that he had recently talked about in private, or used a word or sentence he had said in a conversation a day or two before, claimed that as “proof” that the speakers had been eavesdropping on him. This latest “evidence” of alleged plagiarism on Poshard’s part reminds me of this kind of paranoia. If lengthy sections of text are lifted verbatim or almost verbatim, that’s one thing, but latching onto one or two sentences here and there is just ridiculous.
- ak - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 3:16 pm:
I just got back from the Faculty Senate meeting here in Carbondale. The accusations concerning Presidetn Poshard are just the latest in a series of guerrilla attacks against SIU leaders and faculty by an anonymous group of disgruntled ex faculty members. The accusations made illustrate sloppiness on the parts of the actors, but nothing serious. the group’s purpose is to somehow avenge Prof. Dusalt’s termination at SIUE for plagerizing a teaching statement as part of a tenure packet. He probably should not have been terminated and currently is in court with a wrongful termination suit against SIU. The anonymous group obviously believes that several wrongs equal one wrong. I doubt there are many people with any kind of a written record that could survive the type of fishing expeditions the group is conducting. What is even worse is they claim to have the goods on 100 people in the SIU system that they plan to out one at a time. The Northern Press and our own student newspaper are ignoring the group’s bad intentions and giving attention to their claims, thus empowering them to do it again.
- Bill - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 3:49 pm:
ak,
Yeah, it is all just a big conspiracy cooked up by those damn yankees and their liberal newspapers like the Tribune. We have nothing better to do than to slander that great defender of the South, Glenn Poshard. Copying word for word and not attributing is just careless sloppiness. Glenn is still a great scholar and anybody who says otherwise must be from the damned north.
- Captain America - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 4:22 pm:
I guess all public officals are going to have to impound or otherwise restrict access to their graduate theses in the future, much like Dubya did with his draft/national guard records. Ohterwise, as henry Hyde put it, their “youthful indiscretions” in academia will come back to haunt them. This Poshard business opens up a new can of worms in terms of opposition research about anyone who has an advanced degree that requires a thesis.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 4:38 pm:
I don’t care how many conspiracies you guys spin, there wouldn’t be an issue if Poshard earned his degree just like everyone else is supposed to.
I also don’t care how many examples you guys can come up with regarding other’s shortcomings. Poshard is the president of SIU. If he can’t match the basics of this university, he shouldn’t be leading it.
Point at Bush, point at Biden, fingerpoint all you want. The issue is Poshard and his plagarism coupled with who he is and what that represents.
He has to go if SIU doesn’t want to continue turning into a laughingstock.
- ak - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 4:46 pm:
Bill: Please do not take my comments as a slam. This whole plagiarism scenario at SIU is political. ?A series of accusations-First Wendler, the the SIUE Chancellor, then Wendler again and now Poshard. My question is who is next.
- Bill - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 5:25 pm:
ak,
The whole scenario started when an assistant prof was unjustly fired for reasons other than the reported plagiarism as you probably know. His supporters, made up mostly of colleagues on the faculty and some students began a process of checking the writings of upper level administrators. I don’t think even they thought that they would nab Poshard himself, but they have. Hopefully, if there are any other cheaters in the administration or the faculty they will expose them too. This is Poshard’s own fault. He is reaping what he has sown.
Regardless of the findings of the committee these incidents have tarnished the University and if Glenn really cared about SIU he would resign.
- Mike - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 6:51 pm:
If Todd Stroger can’t fill out proper financial forms for running for office with all the support and infrastructure he has and money to hire accounts and lawyers like Burt Odelson–how can he be trusted to run County government.
He is not a first time low budget candidate without resources. He is not pro se without a lawyer.
The problem is these politicians have no respect for the law.
- plutocrat03 - Tuesday, Sep 11, 07 @ 6:55 pm:
Well Bill, your colors have come out.
We have only your assertion that the professor in question was fired for reasons other than reported plagiarism. The fact that his cronies would then start a witch hunt to ‘get’ someone above them show how petty and unprofessional these people are.
Fire the lot of them and I bet when an appropriate review comittee reviews your often repeated phrase “he cheated” that you will apologise to Mr. Poshard for the potentially libelous things you have been saying. Remember, libel and defamation of character depemd on knowledge that what you are saying is wrong as well as intent to damage. We here all know that you are clever enough to know that cheating is the wrong way to describe the lack of quotation marks described in the newspaper stories and with revelation of the knowledge of the history of the matter, it appears that you side with the friends of the fired professor and are making inflamatoy statements to try and damage Mr. Poshard. I would not want to defend those statements in front of a judge.