UMD President's serious plagiarism comes to light

[Anonymous]

https://dbknews.com/2024/09/18/pines-denies-plagiarism-accusations/

The degree of intentional copying is, unlike some recent high profile cases, NOT minor and cannot be chalked up to an unintentional mistake due to carelesses. He (and his coauthor) copied nearly a 1/3 of his 5000 word academic paper from an Australian student's website in 2002 with no credit to the real author. He only changed the spelling from Australian convention to American spelling. If you look at side by side comparisons, there can be no doubt about plagiarism. Clearly unethical, clearly cheating. Any undergrad student, or even high school student, should know better. He should acknowledge he made a serious error of judgment and step down immediately, and the university needs to stop defending him.

[Anonymous]

He hasn't painted a target on his back, and he had a co-author who can be potentially thrown under the bus.

I doubt that this kind of thing ever happens just once, so if nothing else gets turned up in the next couple of months, he's almost certainly OK. If it *does* get turned up... still a chance to survive. Unlike the Ivy Leaguers, he hasn't painted a target on his back, and it was one of Ew, Those People who pointed out the plagiarism. Academics are very tribal, and it's not all that hard to get them to confuse hatred of the messenger with hatred of the message.

[Anonymous]

What is there to defend? He is a thief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He hasn't painted a target on his back, and he had a co-author who can be potentially thrown under the bus.

I doubt that this kind of thing ever happens just once, so if nothing else gets turned up in the next couple of months, he's almost certainly OK. If it *does* get turned up... still a chance to survive. Unlike the Ivy Leaguers, he hasn't painted a target on his back, and it was one of Ew, Those People who pointed out the plagiarism. Academics are very tribal, and it's not all that hard to get them to confuse hatred of the messenger with hatred of the message.

I would dislike him less if it turns out he really is squeaky clean in follow-up writing, AND he majorly apologizes and admits wrongdoing. His response so far is making me really dislike him.

Even if I also really dislike the people who uncovered his wrongdoing, what he did is so dishonest. How can a university expect students to uphold any academic integrity if he doesn’t face any consequences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://dbknews.com/2024/09/18/pines-denies-plagiarism-accusations/

The degree of intentional copying is, unlike some recent high profile cases, NOT minor and cannot be chalked up to an unintentional mistake due to carelesses. He (and his coauthor) copied nearly a 1/3 of his 5000 word academic paper from an Australian student's website in 2002 with no credit to the real author. He only changed the spelling from Australian convention to American spelling. If you look at side by side comparisons, there can be no doubt about plagiarism. Clearly unethical, clearly cheating. Any undergrad student, or even high school student, should know better. He should acknowledge he made a serious error of judgment and step down immediately, and the university needs to stop defending him.

Wow. Let's see what UMD does about this.

[Anonymous]

Unsurprising. People busy doing research and writing don't have time to climb the office political ladder.

[Anonymous]

Your source is problematic, OP.

I'll wait until it hits the mainstream news.

[Anonymous]

Wow plagiarism and pandering to terrorist supporters. Really on a roll. Probably get promoted to an Ivy League position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Your source is problematic, OP.

I'll wait until it hits the mainstream news.

If you want the real info without sources questionable or otherwise, you can do ya bit of googling and find original paper and the website it plagiarized. Baltimore Banner reported it but it is behind a paywall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Your source is problematic, OP.

I'll wait until it hits the mainstream news.

Who are you waiting for to tell you what to think?

DW links to the primary sources, both the original Altman website and the plagiarism-filled paper.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-of-maryland-president-copied-rocket-science-paper-from-aussie-student

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Your source is problematic, OP.

I'll wait until it hits the mainstream news.

If you want the real info without sources questionable or otherwise, you can do ya bit of googling and find original paper and the website it plagiarized. Baltimore Banner reported it but it is behind a paywall.

No, if it's serious, it will be in WaPo at some point. They're good with this sort of thing. Nothing that you've said is credible enough at this point, OP. Doesn't mean it's not true! But it means you don't quite understand how investigative journalism works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Your source is problematic, OP.

I'll wait until it hits the mainstream news.

NP. It's all over google.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Your source is problematic, OP.

I'll wait until it hits the mainstream news.

He confessed.

"While I am steadfast that our results, data and findings are sound, I acknowledge recurrent language in the introductory sections.”

He copied a few pages of background material.

Does that change the core of the paper? No.

Was it a cowardly and dishonest way to fill space and set the context of the paper? Yes.

Is it claiming credit for someone else's expository work? Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Your source is problematic, OP.

I'll wait until it hits the mainstream news.

NP. It's all over google.

Seriously. You think conspiracy theorists altered the wayback machine?

I am also surprised it’s not more covered, but apparently UMD is not Stanford or Harvard, so nobody cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Your source is problematic, OP.

I'll wait until it hits the mainstream news.

If you want the real info without sources questionable or otherwise, you can do ya bit of googling and find original paper and the website it plagiarized. Baltimore Banner reported it but it is behind a paywall.

No, if it's serious, it will be in WaPo at some point. They're good with this sort of thing. Nothing that you've said is credible enough at this point, OP. Doesn't mean it's not true! But it means you don't quite understand how investigative journalism works.

You are the one who doesn't understand, if you only believe what WaPo tells you to believe.
DW came with receipts, as the kids say.