There is an ongoing story about Senator John Walsh from Montana coming under scrutiny regarding a case of plagiarism in his final thesis at the United States Army War College while he was with the Army National Guard. There have been several reports indicating that after initially denying that he plagiarized, Senator Walsh is asserting that his actions were unintentional and may have been a result of PTSD from his time in Iraq as well as his difficulty dealing with the suicide of a colleague.
I'm positing this story for two groups of posters on BBI specially. First group is our professionals in academia. We have many educators (among other posters), who probably have strong opinions on plagiarism. The danger of plagiarizing was beat into me since high school and more so during grad school, so I am having a hard time being sympathetic to Senator Walsh's case.
Second group is our military posters. Seeing that Senator Walsh was a Colonel in the Army National Guard, who was capable of leading hundreds of men and women in Iraq, does his reasoning for the plagiarism sound legitimate? Or is he using these to spin his failing to adhere to academic integrity? While the military writing isn't necessarily identical to academic writing, both still adhere to crediting and citing their sources (on top of the War College hammering into its students the importance of citing sources).
Most of these thesis take months to write and hundreds of hours of research, so it wasn't a spur of the moment thing where one just forgets to cite sources. Was Senator Walsh so overwhelmed by outside factor that he continued to forget about crediting and citing the sources? Or was he just lazy or thought that he can get away with it?
While he is a political figure, this isn't necessarily a political topic as much as it is a question regarding how much a case of plagiarism should impact a person's career (both military and civilian). We've seen this play out in news media with reporters getting canned for similar acts.
But one of the highest-profile credentials of Mr. Walsh’s 33-year military career appears to have been improperly attained. An examination of the final paper required for Mr. Walsh’s master’s degree from the United States Army War College indicates the senator appropriated at least a quarter of his thesis on American Middle East policy from other authors’ works, with no attribution.
Mr. Walsh completed the paper, what the War College calls a “strategy research project,” to earn his degree in 2007, when he was 46. The sources of the material he presents as his own include academic papers, policy journal essays and books that are almost all available online.
Most strikingly, the six recommendations Mr. Walsh laid out at the conclusion of his 14-page paper, titled “The Case for Democracy as a Long Term National Strategy,” are taken nearly word-for-word without attribution from a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace document on the same topic.
In his third recommendation, for example, Mr. Walsh writes: “Democracy promoters need to engage as much as possible in a dialogue with a wide cross section of influential elites: mainstream academics, journalists, moderate Islamists, and members of the professional associations who play a political role in some Arab countries, rather than only the narrow world of westernized democracy and human rights advocates.”
The same sentence appears on the sixth page of a 2002 Carnegie paper written by four scholars at the research institute. In all, Mr. Walsh’s recommendations section runs to more than 800 words, nearly all of it taken verbatim from the Carnegie paper, without any footnote to it.
In addition, significant portions of the language in Mr. Walsh’s paper can be found in a 1998 essay by a scholar at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, at Harvard. |
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Get the guy out of there.
The PTSD thing is probably just for spin. It seems we have to have an excuse for every mistake instead of just saying, whoops, I screwed up and did something I shouldn't do.
As far as leader of men, I would lose respect for someone who intentionally plagiarized.
It connotes a seriously flawed and lazy intellect in both cases, although the military case has the added problem of breaking the honor code and possibly putting his graduation in jeopardy.
Since pols all have speech writers, I'm not sure what the standard should be there.
To me, this goes into..."nothing good comes out of digging deeper after you've been caught in a lie."
But if you give a speech, then extract elements into another speech later, thats not plagiarism.
Maybe someone can explain where the line is.
It connotes a seriously flawed and lazy intellect in both cases, although the military case has the added problem of breaking the honor code and possibly putting his graduation in jeopardy.
Wasn't that one of Biden's issues as well? I can't recall if it derailed a presidential run but regardless, he seems to have overcome it well.
However, that isn't really my point. My point is that hot political topics tend to be cyclical. If plagiarism becomes a big issue in a Senatorial race, there is a pretty good chance that Paul's somewhat more marginal offenses will become fodder for his opponents--in primaries, not just in a Federal election.
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Dunedin81 : 10:45 am : link : reply
much less succeed in writing, anything groundbreaking. It's a box to be checked. I get that. Plenty of people half-ass "milestones" in other walks of life.
So, the whole notion of an officer and a gentleman, west point proud, salute the officer, is just a whole pile of hooey? they're just people who put on a uniform, but otherwise are no better than the average slacker? (it's a rhetorical question, I know plenty of military officers, and yes, they are pretty much the same as civilians: do the minimum it takes to get by or do more than the minimum, embellish what you can or be honest, no more or less moral values, some are hard working individuals, some less than hard working). but, the current thinking is that the guys (and gals) in uniform are the protectors of our way of life and freedoms, so they should be held to a little higher standard. The military is pretty much the last bastion of the honor system in the public eye. they revel in it, they should be held to a higher standard.
On topic, though, if you get caught in a blatant lie, it should be the end of your career, military or civilian. The older you are when you do it, the worse it should be.
Frankly, it's par for the course for politicians. There used to be a website called "famous plagairists" that had the dirt on many of them. Pretty sure that Biden gave a "life story" speech that he stole from a British politician, which is pretty funny.
There are some people who committed systematic plagiarism, and and frankly, I wish it weren't true, like MLK, and I don't know what to due in those cases.
That's also one of the lessons here: Many politicians get a "do-over" for lots of bad shit, often arguably much worse than plagiarism, but there is usually an initial punishment period followed by an attempt at rehabilitation, which may or may not succeed. Very few are clever enough to get past the problems without a timeout.
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In any event, I dont think that having unattributed quotes in a speech is even close to the level of ripping off a paper for academic credit. A speech doesnt have endnotes. Poor practice to rip someone off, and its bad to make a habit of it, but I dont buy the notion that Rand Paul is a bad guy BECAUSE there is some "plagiarism" in his speeches.
My personal opinion is that it is a big deal. As others have already stated, I don't think this is an honest mistake as much as a dishonest attempt at finishing his thesis without doing his own work. Then to make the situation even more distasteful, he uses the PTSD defense, which doesn't make much sense to me.
Senator Walsh being a leader of soldiers and a public servant, I think this shows a lack of character on his part. Fkap stated it well that in these times of military service members (especially those in high level leadership positions) being afforded more respect by the public, I think they are (and should be) also held to a higher standard. Integrity is sometimes defined in the military as doing the right thing when no one is looking, and this incident appears to show Senator Walsh's shortcomings in that quality.
It's even worse during election years (when many candidates in both parties are guilty of it to varying degrees). I have a problem with plagiarism, but a much bigger problem with this sort of thing.
It's even worse during election years (when many candidates in both parties are guilty of it to varying degrees). I have a problem with plagiarism, but a much bigger problem with this sort of thing.
Stop with this shit.
The Web's Most Trusted Plagiarism Check. Correct Grammar Errors Too!
He was gone the next day, and I came under some short-term scrutiny simply because it was my original work. They took plagiarism very, very seriously and the result with no chance for review, was immediate expulsion.
I regard it as dishonest in the extreme and would never support someone guilty of the practice. I'm usually a whole lot more flexible than this, but a really deplore a thief who steals for gain and not for some more understandable reason like stealing food at need to feed themselves or their family.
He was gone the next day, and I came under some short-term scrutiny simply because it was my original work. They took plagiarism very, very seriously and the result with no chance for review, was immediate expulsion.
I regard it as dishonest in the extreme and would never support someone guilty of the practice. I'm usually a whole lot more flexible than this, but a really deplore a thief who steals for gain and not for some more understandable reason like stealing food at need to feed themselves or their family.
I feel similarly. I tell students that if I catch them plagiarizing, I will make it my job to get them expelled.
Dunedin81 : 10:45 am : link : reply
much less succeed in writing, anything groundbreaking. It's a box to be checked. I get that. Plenty of people half-ass "milestones" in other walks of life.
So, the whole notion of an officer and a gentleman, west point proud, salute the officer, is just a whole pile of hooey? they're just people who put on a uniform, but otherwise are no better than the average slacker? (it's a rhetorical question, I know plenty of military officers, and yes, they are pretty much the same as civilians: do the minimum it takes to get by or do more than the minimum, embellish what you can or be honest, no more or less moral values, some are hard working individuals, some less than hard working). but, the current thinking is that the guys (and gals) in uniform are the protectors of our way of life and freedoms, so they should be held to a little higher standard. The military is pretty much the last bastion of the honor system in the public eye. they revel in it, they should be held to a higher standard.
On topic, though, if you get caught in a blatant lie, it should be the end of your career, military or civilian. The older you are when you do it, the worse it should be.
Sorry if I was unclear. I was not excusing his conduct. I was saying that submitting a "good faith effort" of a thesis, particularly if he was attending via distance learning and holding down a full-time civilian job at the same time (I'm not sure if that's the case or not), is par for the course. The idea that your thesis may be less a deep exploration into a novel field of human understanding and more checking the box does not mean you lack honor. Plagiarism is NOT par for the course though.
Am I missing anything?
Not a cakewalk but a hell of a lot easier than doing it on a typewriter and actually having to know how to cite.
I'd settle for him not being elected to public office. But I'm a pushover
This definitely made me laugh.
I taught a college level course and routinely found anywhere between 10 to 15 papers per week totally lifted from the internet. What was worse was that out of the number that were recognizable as plagiarized, there were two or three groups of papers that were identical, as in word for word.
After that experience, which included a major curve up in order to get the class to a B average I decided that there were better things I could do with my time.
When I was an articles editor for a law school journal 5 yeas ago we received a paper from a law clerk for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. After the editor in chief decided to offer the author an agreement to publish it we discovered whole pages that were lifted directly from various books on the subject without any hint of attribution. The journal editors met with faculty advisers and were told that we should work with the author in order to correct the issues rather than bail on publishing the article or, worse, exposing the author.
I tell these stories because I think that plagiarism occurs much more than people realize. Most of the time it goes undiscovered so, when it is uncovered, I believe the author deserves to be skewered.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/26/media/buzzfeed-plagiarism/index.html - ( New Window )
He also never got close to the Presidency, not just because of the plagiarism, but due in part to it. So yes, I'd say it hurt him some, along with diarrhea of the mouth.
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I particularly like the linked article titled,"Halfway Heroes, ‘Near Veterans’ Seek Recognition For Almost Serving In Military." It fits a long-time member who was never given the proper accolades for his intent to "get in the shit" in Poland and who fills his days buying coffee for police and fire personnel.
It still kills me when people actually think that Duffleblog along with Onion, FoxNews, and CNN are legitimate news sources.
Shit.
Just ask Jonah Lehrer.
My favorite Duffleblog article was the one about the Air Force delibertly recruiting cute girls. I sent that to my favorite former chair force mechanic
My favorite Duffleblog article was the one about the Air Force delibertly recruiting cute girls. I sent that to my favorite former chair force mechanic
Wait...they don't? Some of the cutest girls in uniform have been in the Air Force.
The department will decide whether any discipline is warranted based on the recommendations of the school's academic review board, Provost Lance Betros said.
Normally, that decision is reserved for the school's deputy commandant. It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for the Defense Department to intervene in a student misconduct case, he said.
And, yes, the AF usually has the best looking women in my experience.
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His political career is whatever the public wants to do with it.