Harvard University President Accused of Plagiarizing PhD Thesis

Until her dissertation was approved by the committee, she was a student. And no, I don't think any student should face consequences for plagiarism in an acknowledgements section.

 

There are multiple white men at Harvard who have done what she's accused of and worse and faced no consequences. Steven Pinker and Alan Dershowitz are two examples. Funny how these people aren't worked up over that. (As you rightfully pointed out, this is all driven by politics and personal animus.)

 

Ridonkulous. Hundreds of FORMER students have earned that title as consequence for exactly this conduct.

....and oh BT$%$#@W....

We're talking about the PRESIDENT OF HARVARD.

....and BT@#%#W....

We're talking about a PATTERN that spans decades.

Y'all's lowering standards to fit your DEI golden child is just funny...

 

Perhaps substantively that one carries less weight... but it damn sure calls into question her sincerity--in expressing gratitude?!?!?

It also calls into question her capability for formulating original thoughts.

I mean....if you have to copy shit to thank em for....that s sounds pretty insincere...

....and if you have to copy language to express insincere gratitude...that wreaks of zero imagination. Zero. You can't even make your own shit up to pretend to thank someone for????

 

I don't see where you are addressing anything I posted. Do you think plagiarism is a thing in an acknowledgement section of a dissertation?

 

Are you seeking some form of penalty for insincerity?

 

No, but she's obviously FOS, which brings the rest of it into question.

 

LOCK HER UP!

 

You said she was a student.

Bs. Her dissertation is her graduation from student to pro.

And the part yall poo poo...she's not just some run of mill PHD. she's president of Harvard.

That's a higher standard--highest really. Damn sure not lower.

 

Poo poo away...

She needs the standards lowered right?

 

??? She was a student when she composed the dissertation. This is not debatable and was a simple matter of perspective shared with another poster not named 92gator. You can keep beating this drum all you want, but my primary point was addressing someone who wanted to harsh on plagiarism in an acknowledgements section.

 

Awwww....

Harvard's president is just a student. Since what was it....1997?

Will she ever graduate to growed up, and be measured by regular standards, or are yall going to make excuses for her for ever?

 

Honestly, people outside of academia who have never published a research article and literally know zero about it probably shouldn’t comment so much. Acknowledgement sections are no less heartfelt if you share an important passage you like. Having written a dissertation I can promise you that the acknowledgements Section can be tough to write. Our feelings once we get to that stage are all over the place and we’ve all generally had either lots of different people support the journey or a few people support us a ton. Family, friends, colleagues, mentors, etc. Using others language that is meaningful to you is not unheard of and you are absolutely not expected to cite anything there. There is plenty of other stuff to criticize her for but the acknowledgment stuff is thinnnnn

 

Honestly, most of the individual accusations are extremely thin. They are hoping to flood the zone with like 50 thin examples and hoping that quantity makes up for quality of accusation. Again, you can make a strong case for letting her go as President for the PR/fundraising screw-up. It shouldn't take these sorts of fairly ridiculous claims about academic integrity.

 

This isn't falsifying a resume. If she did that, then, yes, she would be fired for that. Saying that somebody is plagiarizing for stuff like saying "racial cues" in a paper when somebody else talked about "racial voting cues" (to make entirely different points, it should be noted) is absurd. If that is the standard for plagiarism, it is impossible to write literally anything without plagiarism.

 

So, us ignorant, not understanding the system, non-PhD's have no clue as to what plagiarism is and shouldn't comment!!
Leave it only to you really smart people, I have ditch to dig anyhow right!

 

I won’t comment on ditch digging. I don’t know much about it. But I find it amusing that this bothers you. Why does it bother you that people that work in this Space might understand the nuance better? Such a weird thing to get upset about.

 

I think the comment was directed at some of the posts containing zero evidence of plagiarism and/or a complete misunderstanding of the standards for academic integrity. Those same posters, however, were adamant about egregious academic fraud. For example, if a person is citing passages in an acknowledgements section as plagiarism, they might not fully understand the standards for scholarship at the dissertation stage. Slayerxing did not suggest that people not comment, more that they might not comment "so much" in lieu of understanding.

Another example, how many people are intimately familiar with APA or Chicago/Turabian style? I suspect many here remember those formats by name, but don't know much in the way of specific standards.