Don’t Do It!
From the time I entered the 10th grade at a private school, the punishment for doing IT was so horrible and unthinkable that we didn’t speak about IT in the hallways during the changing of classes or at lunchtime. Actually, everything was fine early in the school year because IT didn’t begin showing up until close to the Christmas break. During these dark days you could walk through the hallways and observe students standing outside classrooms (Part of the punishment for doing IT was instantaneous banishment from the classroom.) weeping uncontrollably as they awaited the arrival of their parents for the inevitable trip to office of the head of school to learn their fate. All of them already had received an automatic F on their term papers, and now they would learn whether they would face immediate expulsion, the practically automatic result of having done IT.
If you haven’t already guessed, the IT in the foregoing hyperbolic scenario is PLAGIARISM, a cardinal sin in writing or speaking. Copying the words of someone else and subsequently using those words as your own is either an egregious error in judgment or a prime example of someone whose education is seriously lacking. Plagiarism is quite simply literary stealing, and the penalty for the offense should be severe. A case in point is the mess at West Liberty University.
Dr. W. Franklin Evans, who became the 137th president of West Liberty in January 2021, delivered a speech at the opening fall convocation in which he plagiarized from material in Forbes written by Robert Farrington. Some faculty members recognized the material and cited the exact places where Evans had used material verbatim without any attribution. Five days after the discovery Evans apologized by a memo to the employees and students of the university.
Here is a portion of Evans’ apology as it appeared in a bylined piece for Inside Higher Ed by Emma Whitford: “‘That is a failure on my part. However, that mistake is in no way indicative of a pattern, or a “bigger picture.” It was merely an oversight, and one for which I am apologetic.’”
But despite his apology to the contrary, some faculty members conducted more research in which they discovered that Evans had plagiarized from various online pieces including the Smithsonian website, the Discret News, and the New York Times. At first the university board of governors just gave Evans a slap on the wrist and accepted his apology, but when evidence of additional instances of plagiarism came to light, it stirred up a hornets’ nest on the campus. A recent survey conducted by the faculty received a 70 percent response, in which 70 percent said they lacked confidence in Evans’ leadership, and 60 percent thought he should resign.
Now the matter has been sent to human resources, and who knows where it will land next. But I know this. The longer no final decision is made, the longer Evans’ presence on campus will continue to erode the university’s academic integrity. The whole mess it out in the public now, and unless Evans is gone, the stigma will remain until the university suffers irreparable damage.
There’s no bottom line here because the right decision is a no-brainer. Evans must go – either gracefully by resigning or disgracefully by being terminated. And in order to retain some respect of current and prospective students and the public at large, any action must be at once quick and decisive.
Those Good Old Days
As I recently read an article lamenting the relentless march of gasoline toward a price of $4.00 per gallon, I couldn’t help thinking back to the days I spent tending the pumps for the only gasoline station in Bethany, W.Va. My father managed that station for years, and so my brother and I often helped out when we could. On this particular day I was there when my dad was discussing the “gas war” that was going on among some of the smaller towns in the area, and my dad singled out Wellsburg. I can hear him as if it were yesterday lamenting, “I just can’t compete with those bigger stations in Wellsburg. So instead of lowering my price of regular gas, I’m just going to leave my price at 24 cents a gallon and see what happens.” Whether you believe it not, people actually complained about paying 24 cents a gallon. What a bargain that was!
I Warned You!
Have you been outside recently? Can you feel it? It’s coming, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. No, it’s not here yet, but it’s coming fairly soon. And I’m not ready!
Ponder This:
The other day I bought some powdered water, but I didn’t know what to add to it.
~ Steven Wright
