OT: Texas Tech Student Paper Reporter Fired For...
Bo Raxo
Turns out the article he wrote on plagiarism was...yeah, plagiarized.
Posted: 2/5/08
On Jan. 31, The Daily Toreador's editorial board was made aware by a Texas
Tech faculty member of an instance of plagiarism.
Columnist Ty McDonald took direct statements, ideas and content from
"Plagiarism and intellectual loot," a post on Christiaan Briggs' Weblog
located at http://last-straw.net for two of his articles: "A new way to
think about thoughts" and "Plagiarism is not a sin."
As a student-run publication, it is the responsibility of The DT to inform
its readers of instances that compromise the integrity of the newspaper and
the academic institution it serves.
Plagiarism is a serious offense in any forum and is also a very serious
problem within our society. Such occurrences take place in professional
publications and are just as prevalent in the educational system - but in
no way, shape or form should they ever be tolerated.
Because of his actions, McDonald has been removed from his position with The
DT. The policy of the editorial board for a plagiarism offense is immediate
termination, a printed statement informing readers of the incident and a
report of the violation being sent to Student Judicial Services.
We would like to formally apologize to our readers for this transgression
and also to express our gratitude to the associate professor who brought the
incident to our attention.
TheNin...@gmail.com
> Turns out the article he wrote on plagiarism was...yeah, plagiarized.
>
>
> Posted: 2/5/08
> On Jan. 31, The Daily Toreador's editorial board was made aware by a Texas
> Tech faculty member of an instance of plagiarism.
>
> Columnist Ty McDonald took direct statements, ideas and content from
> "Plagiarism and intellectual loot," a post on Christiaan Briggs' Weblog
> think about thoughts" and "Plagiarism is not a sin."
>
> As a student-run publication, it is the responsibility of The DT to inform
> its readers of instances that compromise the integrity of the newspaper and
> the academic institution it serves.
>
> Plagiarism is a serious offense in any forum and is also a very serious
> problem within our society. Such occurrences take place in professional
> no way, shape or form should they ever be tolerated.
>
> Because of his actions, McDonald has been removed from his position with The
> DT. The policy of the editorial board for a plagiarism offense is immediate
> termination, a printed statement informing readers of the incident and a
> report of the violation being sent to Student Judicial Services.
>
> We would like to formally apologize to our readers for this transgression
> and also to express our gratitude to the associate professor who brought the
> incident to our attention.
Ironic, isn't it? However, I'd like to set the record straight.
Here's a summary of the situation from MY side of it.
I was fired from Texas Tech's Daily Toreador newspaper, where I held a
position as staff writer for the Opinions column. I was fired for
plagiarizing a certain Christiaan Briggs, apparently taking material
from his weblog concerning an article supporting plagiarism. Ironic,
yes, but the reason I bring it up is because I think you will find
this interesting.
Recently, my cousin sent me a book called "Days of War, Nights of
Love", published by Crimethinc., a small group of anarchist
revolutionaries that basically distribute their propaganda in book
form. The first page of the book (which is not copyrighted) urges
people to take lines from the book, to claim them as their own or to
leave them nameless. It encourages plagiarism in the name of
spreading revolutionary ideas to everyone, with no emphasis on who
owns the ideas or where they come from.
I was inspired by this belief, and published two articles trying to
spread this train of thought. I encouraged plagiarism in the name of
spreading revolutionary ideas to everyone, with no emphasis on who
owns the ideas or where they come from. I defamed intellectual
property rights, brazenly stating their obvious defects. I tried to
rebuke the negative aura surrounding plagiarism, though NOT the lazy
plagiarism of students turning in other papers as their own or
mimicking those around them, rather the plagiarism in the context of
an understanding of the work and the passing on of ideas.
Anyway, it turns out that Briggs beat me to the punch and published
almost the same exact article that I did, both of us apparently using
the book's words heavily, which was the point to begin with. That's
cool with me, he's doing what I'm trying to do and probably reaching
many more people. I certainly approve of both our actions.
Unfortunately, because Briggs posted his article first, things got a
little twisted, and I was accused of plagiarizing not the book, but
Briggs' article supporting plagiarism.
The editor informed me that they have a strict policy on citing work.
"Why didn't you attribute your information to this other guy?"
"Because I didn't get any of my information from this guy. I got it
from a book, and so did he."
"Why didn't you attribute the book?"
"Because the book doesn't want to be attributed. It encourages
plagiarism and is not copyrighted. I'll bring it to you if you want."
"Don't bother."
"So I'm fired?"
"Yeah, this makes me sick to my stomach. We'll be publishing an
article retracting your work and stating an apology, also the reason
why we fired you."
"Wow, that's awesome and totally necessary. Thanks."
Many people don't agree with my actual message or the point I'm trying
to prove, and that's fine. I don't care at all that I've been fired,
and I believe that it was probably warranted. I stood for what I
believed to be right, and did my best to practice what I preached.
What infuriates me is the ways in which the newspaper handled their
reaction to my actions.
I understand that the newspaper staff feels a need to cover its own
ass, and that the editor is getting a lot of pressure from faculty
members to chop someone's head off, specifically mine. I understand
the dynamics of leadership, but I don't understand why they need to
publicly humiliate me in a paper that thousands of people read. The
actual article they wrote listed my full name and the actions I
performed. Despite what I told them about what my source was, they
retained the opinion that I plagiarized from Briggs and published this
opinion as a fact. I know it shouldn't shock me, but I was stunned at
the absolute nerve they had, talking about integrity and maintaining a
strict honesty policy, when in fact they knowingly did not publish the
entire story.
In addition, I was not a paid writer. I voluntarily wrote articles
for this paper using my own time and my own freedom. I was providing
the newspaper a service, and the paper could not run without
contributions from writers such as myself. Despite these dynamics,
the editors did not hesitate to completely bury me in the mud.
After several polite requests directed at the editors to allow me to
publish my side of things, or perhaps some sort of explanation, I was
met with one response - "Absolutely not." When I emailed them each
again, asking why they blatantly lied about what had happened, or at
least had passed off their opinions of the situation as truth, I
received no reply whatsoever.
In any case, I made my point. As Zapata once said, I would rather die
on my feet than live on my knees.
TheNin...@gmail.com
> In article
> <d865806b-bfc1-405f-8044-040efb7d4...@n20g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>,
>
> TheNinthCl...@gmail.com wrote:
> > I was inspired by this belief, and published two articles trying to
> > spread this train of thought. I encouraged plagiarism in the name of
> > spreading revolutionary ideas to everyone, with no emphasis on who
> > owns the ideas or where they come from. I defamed intellectual
> > property rights, brazenly stating their obvious defects. I tried to
> > rebuke the negative aura surrounding plagiarism, though NOT the lazy
> > plagiarism of students turning in other papers as their own or
> > mimicking those around them, rather the plagiarism in the context of
> > an understanding of the work and the passing on of ideas.
>
> follow the work of Negativland.
>
> Second, if you are not a troll, and if you are truly the bonafide
> student that got shitcanned, for godsake you are going Texas Tech. Not
> exactly a bastion of academic tolerance. If you want to practice your
> ideology, transfer to a place like Reed or Bennington College, but be
> warned most academic institutions have a very low threshold of tolerance
> for plagiarism.
>
> > In any case, I made my point. As Zapata once said, I would rather die
> > on my feet than live on my knees.
>
> sitting down when he was assassinated...
Er, no...I don't think I'm being original, and that's the point. And
yeah, I'm the one who was "shitcanned." And you're right about Texas
Tech.
I'll look up this Obregon guy