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Friday, April 01, 2005

FARGO

Faithful readers know that UD enjoys a nice plagiarism story with her evening meal, and indeed that if she fails to score one on a pretty regular basis she becomes irritable.

Here’s one with definite possibilities:

Claire Strom, an assistant professor and editor of the international journal Agricultural History, is accused of using bogus citations and borrowing phrases without proper quotation and attribution.

[Already this is a nice change from the norm, because the main charge is not the routine one of stealing other people’s words, but rather of making things up.]

The investigation came to light after North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem issued an opinion Wednesday admonishing NDSU for overcharging and delaying a doctoral student's request for Strom's e-mails.

[This is a nice wrinkle, too. The university charged the student for the university’s check of the professor’s emails.]

The student, Suzzanne Kelley of West Fargo, served as managing editor of the journal from September 2003 to Sept. 3, 2004, when Strom fired her.

Kelley said she was removed after reporting misconduct and breach of professional ethics by Strom to history department chairman Larry Peterson.

"I believe had the university complied with my request, her (Strom's) correspondence would have documented her misconduct and would have proven that my dismissal was retaliatory," Kelley said in a phone interview Thursday.

Strom did not return phone messages left Thursday at her home and office.

Kelley said she couldn't discuss the alleged misconduct because of an ongoing NDSU investigation.


However, a report obtained by The Forum shows NDSU hired a University of Nebraska history professor to look into plagiarism accusations made by Kelley.

The professor, John Wunder, was asked in October by NDSU Vice President for Academic Affairs Craig Schnell to issue an opinion on whether Strom plagiarized material for her book, "Profiting from the Plains: The Great Northern Railway and Corporate Development of the American West" (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003).


[You can sort of see Strom’s thinking here. This is a book four people are going to read. Why the hell not?]

In his report, Wunder wrote that 14 of the 22 allegations researched were verified as bogus citations. He also found that five examples of borrowing phrases without proper quotation or attribution also qualified as plagiarism within the standards of the American Historical Association.


[The university also refused to do a thorough email check (the check for which they charged the student)]:


[The university said it] was trying to hold down costs - not withhold information - when it narrowed the scope of Kelley's request for Strom's e-mails since Jan. 1, 2003.

Despite Kelley's objections, NDSU initially narrowed the search to e-mails containing the words "Suzzanne" and "Managing Editor," Stenehjem wrote in his opinion.

Kelley paid NDSU $400 for the search, but she objected when Johnson told her a second search would cost an additional $164.


Stenehjem wrote in his opinion that any charge for finding the e-mail records was a violation of state law. He also concluded that NDSU failed to provide the copies in digital form or within a "reasonable time" as required by state law.

To remedy the violations, Stenehjem gave NDSU seven days to return Kelley's $400 check and provide her with the e-mail records free of charge. Johnson said NDSU is complying with both orders.


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UPDATE: Ralph Luker at Cliopatria has additional information.

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YET LATER UPDATE: See also Inside Higher Ed.