Over at Desmogblog, John Mashey details problems with George Mason University’s conclusions that plagiarism did not really occur in a report written for Congress that plagiarized several different sources.
If true, not only did GMU violate its own policies on duration, but on process, because they have ignored numerous well-documented complaints, including about 4 papers with Federal funding. This process involved VP Research Roger Stough, Provost Peter Stearns and President Alan Merten, so it was certainly visible inside GMU.
See No Evil,
Hear No Evil
Speak No Evil … except about Ray Bradley [the fellow who filed the plagiarism complaint], who has yet to receive any report.
The attached report enumerates the problems that GMU managed not to see, shows the chronology of a simple complaint that took almost 2X longer than specified by policy and finally produced an obvious contradiction. People may find GMU’s funding and connections interesting, including similarities and relationships with Heartland Institute. Finally, readers might recall the WR was alleged to be an attempt to mislead Congress, so this is not just an academic issue.
No e-mails stolen to expose the problem, but still no action against those who deny climate change occurs and will plagiarize papers to make their point. It’s a not-pretty pass.
I suspect reporters get MEGO syndrome reading the stuff, but Desmogblog points to real problems, real difficulties in science, that deserve to be covered better than they have been.
Go read Mashey’s report and follow the links.
More:
- GMU split decision on Wegman: Plagiarism in CSDA, but “no scientific misconduct” in 2006 congressional report (deepclimate.org)
- Wegman Heartland update [Deltoid] (scienceblogs.com)
- Wegman plagiarism again [Stoat] (scienceblogs.com)
- Whistleblower John Mashey Files Complaint to IRS Regarding Heartland Institute’s Non-Profit Status (planetsave.com)
- University committee finds professor guilty of research misconduct (vacollegenews.wordpress.com)
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[…] John Mashey has been quietly but consistently warning us for some time . . […]
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