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Harvard plagiarism 2008: live and let live

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Back in 2005, the Harvard Crimson was talking about the punishment given to plagiarist Laurence Tribe, and earlier about the disparity in treatment accorded student plagiarists vs. professor plagiarists.

Flash forward to 3 July 2008 to a post Plagiarism at Harvard on basicjournalism:

The price for plagiarism can be colossal, for students and professors alike. At a prestigious university like Harvard, it can be everything, like losing a scholarship or a degree; but even worse, plagiarism can destroy a reputation.

IPBiz queries: what colossal price for plagiarism by professors?

Tribe and Kearns-Goodwin walked.

The basicjournalism post also had the text:

Leo Damrosch, an English professor at Harvard, said that he doesn?t watch for plagiarism, and if he finds any, he doesn?t care. ?I?m not a policeman,? he said. ?I live and let live. You know what I mean?? He said that he instructs his teaching assistants to keep an eye open for plagiarism or other suspicious work but he doesn?t bother to check himself.

See

Harvard Crimson on reprimand of Laurence Tribe, wherein IPBiz noted:

Returning to the Tribe matter, one suspects that the incident will now fade into the shadows. Although, as Dean Velvel suggests, conservative columnists might have a field day, I don't think this story has legs. Maybe it ought to.

Full post as published by IPBiz on July 05, 2008 (boomark / email).