Plagiarism

Latest news on plagiarism

Could it be Clinton for secretary of state? Obama and arch-rival hold secret talks

Hillary Clinton's hopes of becoming Madam President died months ago - at least for 2008. But could she rise again as Madam Secretary?Anticipation that Clinton could be called to serve in Barack Obama's cabinet rose yesterday after his aides leaked details of a secret meeting between the two primary rivals at his transition headquarters in Chicago.The speculation focused on whether Obama and Clinton were in talks about her serving as secretary of state. But some Democrats said Obama wanted a more general conversation about whether Clinton wanted to stay in the Senate, or serve in his administration.Clinton's visit to Obama's office on Thursday was not on her official schedule, and her Senate staff had previously said she was in Chicago for personal reasons.She gave little away about her future yesterday, telling a conference in Albany, New York: "I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration."The Clinton camp was adamant that the meeting was not a job interview. But it has fuelled speculation that Clinton is a contender for a major cabinet post.Since winning the election, Obama has entertained a stream of high-level visitors, but yesterday's meeting was seen as more than an ordinary courtesy call. Clinton campaigned strenuously on Obama's behalf after the primaries, and there has been intense speculation on whether she would be rewarded with a cabinet post.Journalists staking out Obama's headquarters caught on to the meeting after seeing two separate motorcades of black SUVs leave the building. Clinton, who has secret service protection as a former first lady, normally travels in such a convoy.Aides from the Obama camp, which has been sealed against leaks throughout the campaign and transition, confirmed that a meeting took place. As the Obama camp acknowledges, Clinton would bring a degree of heft as well as celebrity to the job of secretary of state. As she endlessly noted on the campaign trail, she visited more than 80 countries as first lady, building up a reservoir of goodwill for the Clinton brand as well as America. Those assets may overpower any reservations Obama might have about installing his former rival, or of giving an international platform to Bill Clinton as her spouse.Obama has begun relying heavily on talent first recruited by the Clintons, from Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, to John Podesta, who is part of the trio heading his transition team. The Politico website reported that 31 of the 47 appointments to transition or staff posts had worked in the Clinton administration. Clinton also has a number of key defenders in Obama's inner circle. The most influential of these is the vice-president-elect, Joe Biden, a friend of the former first lady.But Obama also relies on a number of trusted allies from Chicago. Last night it emerged that long-term friend and supporter Valerie Jarrett will be named as his White House senior adviser.Jarrett is one of Obama's key advisers and has been close to the president-elect since Jarrett hired Michelle Obama for a job in the Chicago mayor's office in 1991 .The Clinton camp, meanwhile, did not deny the reports of a meeting, but offered no comment. "Any speculation about cabinet or other administration appointments is for president-elect Obama's transition team to address," Philippe Reines, a Clinton adviser, said in an email yesterday.Others in the Clinton camp noted that it could rebound against Obama if he raised hopes only to frustrate them again. Among Clinton supporters, there remains anger that she was passed over as vice-president. A member of her inner circle said: "If they are toying with her and don't give it to her at this point they have a created a political disaster."Clinton's inclusion on Obama's short-list is seen as a lack of confidence in John Kerry, an early frontrunner for secretary of state. Kerry, who ran for president in 2004, has sent out signals he wants the job, and Obama owes him a debt of loyalty: he came out relatively early in support.He said, she saidWorking alongside a former rival is an awkward position for anyone, let alone the US president. As Barack Obama considers appointing Hillary Clinton to his administration, here are the less charitable assessments they made of each other during the campaign. 'I thought that was irresponsible and, frankly, naive'Clinton on Obama's willingness to meet the leaders of nations hostile to the US, July 24 2007'I think what is irresponsible and naive is to have authorised a war without asking how we were going to get out'Obama on Clinton's vote to support the invasion of Iraq, July 25 2007'You're likable enough, Hillary'Obama, after Clinton called him "very likable" in a debate, January 5 2008'When I was out there working in the streets ... you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board of Walmart'Obama on Clinton's authenticity, January 21 2008'If your candidacy is going to be about words, they should be your own words. Lifting whole passages is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox'Clinton, accusing Obama of plagiarism, February 21 2008'What exactly is this foreign experience that she's claiming? I know she talks about visiting 80 countries [but] I have not seen any evidence she is better equipped to handle a crisis'Obama on Clinton's foreign policy, March 5 2008Obama White HouseHillary ClintonDemocratsUnited Statesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Principal, student punished for plagiarism

Ah, the memories the Naperville Central High class of 2008 will have. The school in Illinois has had the Principal fired and the class Valedictorian punished. Why? Because they both got caught plagiarizing.The Naperville Sun reported, "Naperville Central High School Principal Jim Caudill isn?t the only one Naperville School District 203 is punishing for plagiarism. During a Thursday afternoon press conference in which District 203 officials announced that Caudill would likely be 'reassigned' due to his admitted transgression, Superintendent Alan Leis revealed that portions of the commencement address delivered by Central?s valedictorian also appear to be plagiarized. Leis would not identify the valedictorian by name, but, in covering Central?s May 21 graduation ceremony, Central administrators reported that Steven ?Hankong? Su was the valedictorian for Central?s class of 2008."I am not sure of what either case of plagiarism is but the video of the commencement is being edited to remove some segments. That probably is a clue as to what happened. I am afraid plagiarism in commencements is fairly common. How many ways can you say basically the same thing? This probably just does not get caught very often.

Faculty Affairs puts together avoiding plagiarism module

Like most institutions of higher education, Lewis-Clark State College is having problems with plagiarism. However, they are doing something about. An article titled Faculty Affairs puts together avoiding plagiarism module has details. The article notes:The Lewis-Clark State College Faculty Affairs Committee continues to make a difference in striving for academic integrity in education.Last year, the committee worked closely with Library Services, particularly Barbara Barnes and Lynne Bidwell, with the goal of providing academic integrity resources and a heightened level of plagiarism education to the LCSC learning community in partnership with Dean Andy Hanson and Kristy Roberts from Distance Learning. Brian L. Christenson, an assistant professor in Social Work and Faculty Senate Chair, says the hard work of the group has paid off. The committe has put together an information literacy module, ?Avoiding Plagiarism,? that has been incorporated into the Student Development Orientation Courses as a standard of practice. Each student is required to complete the module and pass a blackboard quiz designed by Barbara Barnes. Furthermore, the literacy module has been published as a ?best practice? example in the book, "The Plagiarism Plaque."The information literacy module can be previewed at: http://www.lcsc.edu/library/ILI/Module_2A/Welcome.htmA bibliography of resources on the topic can be viewed at:http://www.lcsc.edu/faculty/plagiarism_bibliography.htm

Raj Persaud quits as consultant at leading hospital

The disgraced celebrity psychiatrist Dr Raj Persaud has left his job at a leading hospital four months after being convicted of dishonesty by a disciplinary tribunal.Persaud, who has lost media commissions after admitting plagiarism at a General Medical Council hearing in June, has stepped down as a consultant psychiatrist for the South London and Maudsley NHS trust. The move follows talks with trust officers this month when he was legally cleared to return to work after being struck off for three months by the GMC. The tribunal criticised him so heavily that there was widespread doubt that he would return to consultant status. A spokesman for the Maudsley confirmed that Persaud had left. He said: "This is a private matter between the trust and Dr Persaud and I am afraid that we do not want to add anything to that." Persaud did not respond to approaches by the Guardian for comment.Persaud, who spent 12 years at the Maudsley, made himself Britain's best-known "mind doctor". He was a regular on ITV's Good Morning programme and BBC Radio 4's All in the Mind, as well as a prolific contributor to newspapers and medical journals.He was praised for making his subject interesting and accessible, but attracted increasing claims that his extraordinary output had to be based on others' unacknowledged work. He also made an enemy of the Scientology movement - opposing it in a way that many of his colleagues supported - and it was a plagiarism allegation from it that led to the hearing and his downfall. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, founded by the Scientologists, complained to the GMC that a hostile article by Persaud in the Independent in 2005 plagiarised several passages from another academic. The publicity then attracted claims from others.Persaud, 49, married with two children, admitted nine cases of plagiarism but denied deceit, blaming overwork and misunderstandings for sloppiness in acknowledging sources. During the four-day fitness-to-practise hearing in Manchester, he called on character witnesses including a range of celebrities and respected public figures, including the former foreign secretary David Owen.He was found to have acted dishonestly after the panel heard evidence not just of plagiarism, but of attempts to put the blame on others such as subeditors, whom he wrongly accused of missing out attributions and quotation marks. The three members of the tribunal unanimously dismissed his defence and issued a scathing assessment of his behaviour.Persaud grew up in a high-achieving family and was sent to Haberdashers' Aske's public school in Hertfordshire, before taking his first degree at University College London, and beginning his association with the Maudsley as a psychiatric trainee. He accumulated eight degrees and diplomas by the age of 43. He is married to an eye surgeon at Moorfields hospital, London. Personable and fluent, Persaud made lasting friendships, and several media figures including Richard Madeley, Judy Finnigan and the broadcaster Martin Bashir said after the hearing that they wanted to work with him again.CelebrityNHSHealthTelevisionMental healthTelevisionguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Mister Jalopy artwork on display in Los Angeles gallery Nov. 1 - 18, 2008

Mister Jalopy, the celebrated "founder of the Maker Art movement" is to be featured in a college gallery show in Los Angeles. A reception for the exhibit will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the College of the Canyons Art Gallery. Painter Paul Gauguin once said, ?Art is either plagiarism or revolution,? but the work of local artist Mister Jalopy defies that logic by appropriating discarded consumer products and creating something spectacularly new. The College of the Canyons Art Gallery will display some of Jalopy?s work in the exhibit ?Mister Jalopy and the Maker Philosophy? from Nov. 1 to Nov. 18, 2008. Among the whimsical pieces on display will be ?The World?s Biggest iPod,? an Apple iPod wired to a classic console stereo system, and a three-wheeled bicycle that operates a home-built movie projector. ?Mister Jalopy takes the best of earlier and contemporary technologies and shows us that they can work together to create new approaches to everyday challenges,? said Larry Hurst, gallery director at the college. ?He directly encourages manufacturers to create products that consumers can understand and repair themselves. Although he says he is not an artist, the objects or 'gizmos' that he has created are certainly art.? Mister Jalopy art exhibition...

Verity's further education

How the OU can restore its reputation Stob The story so far: I stumped up nearly £1000 for an OU computer course (M885 Analysis and design of enterprise systems: an object-oriented approach) and was surprised when the second piece of homework was based on a paper by Madanmohan and De' comprising, in part, plagiarised gibberish. I drew this to the attention of my OU tutor, and then to the OU course chair. Neither was interested, and instead urged me to "[take] the paper at face value irrespective of any doubts you may have". Eventually, the IEEE admitted the plagiarism.?

Canada PM faces plagiarism claim

Canadian PM Stephen Harper read a 2003 speech on Iraq which had identical sections to one by Australia's ex-PM John Howard.