… has been suspended without pay because of plagiarism.
That’s it. That’s all the school will say, and no journalist has anything to add so far.
This is a pity. It’s actually kind of irresponsible. Students and colleagues have a right to know how extensively he plagiarized, what in particular he plagiarized, etc. This sort of non-announcement leaves us uncertain whether Clinton Beckford has plagiarized everything he’s written, or just a few things. A lot of his publications are co-authored. Did his associates also plagiarize?
December 10th, 2012 at 12:53PM
A minimal announcement implies an evolving situation, maybe something raised late last week, where Beckford was confronted, admitted enough to suspend, but where there are going to be continuing questions.
December 10th, 2012 at 1:17PM
Great post! I agree that more should be communicated! In situations like this (where something that was hidden is now exposed), I think it matters even more for administration to be transparent about the process. If it’s an evolving situation, the administration could say so. They could say what they’re doing to figure out the details. They could say that they will provide more details when they have found them. Etc. The Daily News “article” is 59 words. More details, more shared information, etc. would communicate that this is an important issue that will be carefully addressed; that’s an important message to be shared from and with an academic community where ethics and integrity should be valued and lived. I also think that this is a duty that the academic community has to the public as well.