He Did What!
After narrowly keeping his job by a 7-5 vote of the West Liberty University Board of Governors, Dr. W. Franklin Evans, university president, now faces disciplinary action to be decided upon by the Board of Governors. Evans plagiarized material from various other sources and used it during several of his speeches without citing proper attribution. In the West Liberty University Student Handbook plagiarism is listed among the offenses of academic dishonesty, and students found guilty of it can face possible expulsion. Of course the question now is how does the university punish its president for the same egregious error that could result in expulsion for student offenders. The easiest solution would be for Evans to resign, but apparently he is not going to do that, and that’s a shame because as long as he is there, the university will bear the stigma of his indiscretions. But the bottom line here is that by not calling for Evans’ resignation, the Board of Governors quite simply dropped the ball.
And it didn’t take long for the word to get out. In a bylined lead article for Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey doesn’t mince words in writing about the West Liberty situation.
Here’s what he says about Evans’ punishment: “In short, every student who is expelled for plagiarism will have received a harsher penalty than the school’s President. How does one explain that to the student or their parents? While there are many reasons that keeping Evans as the President may be desirable, do those reasons outweigh potential long-term damage to trust between the school, its faculty, and its students?”
Bailey also points out that the stigma of plagiarism is not easily erased: “Unfortunately, there is almost no way that this school won’t have questions hanging over it for some time. Simply put, as a small, rural school, national headlines like these stick around. The school had an opportunity to put those questions to rest and has now missed it.
“West Liberty University will likely be long known as the school with a plagiarizing President that didn’t feel strongly enough to push him out. Even if he goes on to become an excellent President in other ways, these questions will always linger.”
That’s an ominous outlook for the university’s future, but it’s the only one it can be until a major change eventuates. And it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure it out!
It Was Loaded!
In a tragic, and gruesome example of life imitating art, actor Alec Baldwin shot and killed the cinematographer and wounded the director of his new film Rust when he fired a prop gun containing a live round of ammunition. The bullet delivered a fatal chest wound to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and subsequently struck director Joel
Souza in the shoulder. The shooting occurred on the set of Baldwin’s new film in the New Mexico desert. According to reports, Baldwin had no idea the gun contained a live round. Baldwin was sitting in a mock prop of a wooden church and practicing something called a ‘cross drawing’ and then aiming the gun at the camera lens. The report stated that Baldwin thought he was holding a ‘cool revolver,’ meaning one which was not loaded.
The following is a tweet Baldwin released after the shooting:
“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I am fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred, and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”
Of course the obvious questions to be answered are who loaded the gun, was it intentional, or was it a matter of extreme carelessness. The investigation is ongoing, and if the whole thing weren’t so damn tragic, you could almost expect one of the members who were on the set that day to jump up and say, “Col. Mustard did it in the conservatory with the revolver.” Unfortunately, however, this horrific event is not like a real-life game of Clue. Law enforcement officials have said that criminal charges are not out of the question if the evidence warrants them. One fascinating turn of events according to an affidavit is that several hours before the tragedy occurred, six disgruntled members of the camera crew walked off the set to protest the poor working conditions. Stay tuned for future developments.
Old Saying
What’s that old saying about the apple not falling far from the tree? Have you heard what Donald Trump Jr. is selling on his website? How about shirts saying, “Guns don’t kill people Alec Baldwin kills people”? They come in black, blue, and military green with a price tag of $27.99. It’s bad enough that the sentiment on the shirt is completely tasteless, but, it’s also stated illiterately because it’s a run-on sentence with no end punctuation. But I’m sure Daddy loves it.
Still Coming
It’s still coming. I’ve warned you about it so that you can get ready for it, but I don’t see too many people making preparations for it. All you have to do to understand what I’m saying is to look out your window every once in awhile. Oh the signs are there all right, but you just need to look for them. And don’t forget that funny business that we do with the clocks every year around this time. That’s a sure sign that it is coming. It’s not here yet, but don’t let it take you by surprise. Just pay attention to your surroundings. I’ll do my best to help you get ready for it.
Ponder This:
I dressed my dog up as a cat for Halloween. Now he won’t come when I call him.
~Anonymous
