Plagiarism - by the DEAN at U of A

[MD2015]

U of Alberta dean accused of plagiarism apologizes

CBC News

Posted: Jun 13, 2011 9:23 AM MT

Last Updated: Jun 13, 2011 1:09 PM MT

Related Links

U of Alberta dean stole speech: med students

Dr. Brian Goldman's blog: Medical deans who plagiarize should resign

Baker also wrote a letter of apology to his colleagues at the university.

"I am sorry for any embarrassment or issues that may result from my comments."

 

"I don’t think an apology itself is enough," said Dr. Robert Agostinis, past president of the U of A medical alumni association, who received the email. "If it isn’t dealt with appropriately, this will continue to linger and the reputation (of the faculty of medicine) will be even more tarnished.

 

"If anybody else, say a medical student, did something similar they would be expelled from the university," he said.

The university is looking into the plagiarism allegations.

 

"It's something that the university takes very seriously," said Deb Hammacher. "We'll conduct a full investigation."

[zxcv]

Can't wait to find out who the new dean is.

[MD2015]

Dr. Brian Goldman's blog: Medical deans who plagiarize should resign

 

Monday June 13, 2011

 

Medical Deans Who Plagiarize Should Resign

 

Last Friday, Dr. Philip Baker, Dean of the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine, gave a speech to the graduating class at the convocation banquet held in Edmonton. Now, there are accusations that Dean Baker lifted much of his June 10 speech from a commencement address given by famed physician and essayist Dr. Atul Gawande at Stanford's School of Medicine in June 2010.

 

As Baker gave his address last Friday, medical students in the audience began to recognize words. One phrase - velluvial matrix - stuck in their minds, because it was invented by Gawande for his commencement address at Stanford.

 

It gets worse.

 

According to the Edmonton Journal, one person who attended the speech said his brother located Gawande's speech on The New Yorker website and "was following along on his iPhone as Baker was reciting it".

 

"We were embarrassed and disappointed to find that Dean Baker had given a wonderful speech at our graduation banquet without attributing it to the original author," Brittany Barber, president of the University of Alberta graduating class told the Edmonton Journal. "People should know that we do not stand for academic dishonesty and our deepest wish is that this incident does not reflect poorly on the integrity of our class, the medical school, and ultimately the university."

 

Darned right it does.

 

On June 12, Dean Baker sent an email headed "Faculty of Medicine dean Philip Baker's letter of apology to U of A med students." It was also published in the Edmonton Journal. In it, Dean Baker writes "When I was researching for the speech, I came across text which inspired me and resonated with my experiences. The personal medical traumas which I detailed were wholly genuine and did indeed engender the sense of inadequacy I highlighted. I also used a medical case of Dr. Gawande's to further make my point. I offered a sincere written apology to Dr. Gawande and subsequently spoke with him; he was flattered by my use of his text, took no offense and readily accepted my apology."

 

Further down in his apology, Dean Baker writes: "Throughout my professional career and private life I have I have (sic) held myself to the highest ethical standards possible. The talk was intended for a private audience, nevertheless, my failure to attribute the source of my inspiration is a matter of the utmost regret."

 

To me, the preceding sounds like an admission of plagiarism.

 

According to the University of Alberta's Code of Student Behaviour, Section 30.3.2(1), "No Student shall submit the words, ideas, images or data of another person as the Student's own in any academic writing, essay, thesis, project, assignment, presentation or poster in a course or program of study." A note that accompanies the above code, states "This definition does not include intentionality; it's plagiarism whether it was intentional or accidental!"

 

The University of Alberta's Library website is replete with resources on how faculty can catch students who plagiarize!

 

According to the Edmonton Journal, Deb Hammacher, a spokesperson for the University of Alberta, said the university is aware of the incident and will be investigating. For now, the offenses are regarded as alleged. However, Dr. Baker's quick apology suggests that he's aware that what he did was wrong.

 

If found guilty, what should his punishment be?

 

Suppose a medical student stood before Dr. Baker charged with plagiarism? One would rightly expect Dean Baker to investigate thoroughly and judge the student accordingly.

 

If Dean Baker gets off, then the door to plagiarism at the University of Alberta will be flung wide open. "I'll have what he's having," future plagiarists will say.

 

Therefore, if these allegations against Dean Baker are true, he will have no choice but to resign.

 

The Deanery is no place for plagiarists, no matter how accomplished they are

[scubagirl]

I agree with MD2015 - the same rules should apply to everyone, Dean of Medicine or not. I'm at the U of A and on the first day of every single class I have ever been in we are given the same speech about plagiarism and how serious it is.

 

If he can do it and get away with it, what's stopping the rest of us?

 

Yes, everyone makes mistakes but the seriousness of doing something like he did should have been obvious to him as I'm sure all the U of A Med students get the same speech about plagiarism when they start classes.

[MD2015]

Its a no brainer that the university has to get rid of him as dean. The only issue is how and when. He would prefer to be seen to resign on his own rather than a public execution. If I were a financial benefactor to the medical school, my funds would dry up unless there was a timely, ethical resolution of this matter. The university is aware that their options are limited based upon the known facts. And the dean is already in discussion with head hunters.

[hking03]

Again, I think this is a little unreasonable.

 

If it were a situation where a graduating med student used Atul Gawande's speech as his/her commencement speech would you say they need to be expelled?

 

This has nothing to do with academic dishonesty or plagiarism in the sense of stolen thoughts/ideas for gain in an academic setting.

 

This was a speech for the graduating class. Two very different things...

 

Of course Goldman is going to advocate for a resignation... he has to pick a stance that is going to get him the most readers.

 

If he actually resigns because of this or gets fired... the "punishment" would be severely disproportionate with regards to his actual "crime".

[zxcv]

It's less about academic dishonesty than about what a university represents, especially the dean. The university is a center of originality, creativity, innovativeness, forwardness... I can keep going on... When someone plagiarizes they go against these values. What reason does one have to copy the work of someone else? Dr. Baker is a very nice person, and extremley qualified. Unfortunately, one major mistake can cause someone their career. This is one such mistake, which is forgivable, but appropriate action needs to be taken to set an example.

 

I'm guessing in a few days he will resign.

[aaronjw]

Thank you for reinforcing my earlier point about positions of this nature being solely based on politics. Goldman's stance isnt based on character or qualification. Its based on politics and even the village idiot comes to this conclusion.

 

I question why you care so much? Who p!ssed in your cornflakes?

 

 

 

Dr. Brian Goldman's blog: Medical deans who plagiarize should resign

 

Monday June 13, 2011

 

Medical Deans Who Plagiarize Should Resign

 

Last Friday, Dr. Philip Baker, Dean of the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine, gave a speech to the graduating class at the convocation banquet held in Edmonton. Now, there are accusations that Dean Baker lifted much of his June 10 speech from a commencement address given by famed physician and essayist Dr. Atul Gawande at Stanford's School of Medicine in June 2010.

 

As Baker gave his address last Friday, medical students in the audience began to recognize words. One phrase - velluvial matrix - stuck in their minds, because it was invented by Gawande for his commencement address at Stanford.

 

It gets worse.

 

According to the Edmonton Journal, one person who attended the speech said his brother located Gawande's speech on The New Yorker website and "was following along on his iPhone as Baker was reciting it".

 

"We were embarrassed and disappointed to find that Dean Baker had given a wonderful speech at our graduation banquet without attributing it to the original author," Brittany Barber, president of the University of Alberta graduating class told the Edmonton Journal. "People should know that we do not stand for academic dishonesty and our deepest wish is that this incident does not reflect poorly on the integrity of our class, the medical school, and ultimately the university."

 

Darned right it does.

 

On June 12, Dean Baker sent an email headed "Faculty of Medicine dean Philip Baker's letter of apology to U of A med students." It was also published in the Edmonton Journal. In it, Dean Baker writes "When I was researching for the speech, I came across text which inspired me and resonated with my experiences. The personal medical traumas which I detailed were wholly genuine and did indeed engender the sense of inadequacy I highlighted. I also used a medical case of Dr. Gawande's to further make my point. I offered a sincere written apology to Dr. Gawande and subsequently spoke with him; he was flattered by my use of his text, took no offense and readily accepted my apology."

 

Further down in his apology, Dean Baker writes: "Throughout my professional career and private life I have I have (sic) held myself to the highest ethical standards possible. The talk was intended for a private audience, nevertheless, my failure to attribute the source of my inspiration is a matter of the utmost regret."

 

To me, the preceding sounds like an admission of plagiarism.

 

According to the University of Alberta's Code of Student Behaviour, Section 30.3.2(1), "No Student shall submit the words, ideas, images or data of another person as the Student's own in any academic writing, essay, thesis, project, assignment, presentation or poster in a course or program of study." A note that accompanies the above code, states "This definition does not include intentionality; it's plagiarism whether it was intentional or accidental!"

 

The University of Alberta's Library website is replete with resources on how faculty can catch students who plagiarize!

 

According to the Edmonton Journal, Deb Hammacher, a spokesperson for the University of Alberta, said the university is aware of the incident and will be investigating. For now, the offenses are regarded as alleged. However, Dr. Baker's quick apology suggests that he's aware that what he did was wrong.

 

If found guilty, what should his punishment be?

 

Suppose a medical student stood before Dr. Baker charged with plagiarism? One would rightly expect Dean Baker to investigate thoroughly and judge the student accordingly.

 

If Dean Baker gets off, then the door to plagiarism at the University of Alberta will be flung wide open. "I'll have what he's having," future plagiarists will say.

 

Therefore, if these allegations against Dean Baker are true, he will have no choice but to resign.

 

The Deanery is no place for plagiarists, no matter how accomplished they are

[lostintime]

When you think about it though, I think I would be pretty insulted if that's how much we're worth to the faculty/dean that he/she couldn't take the couple of hours to make an original speech for our graduation and hard work in 4 years. When you apply for the job as a Dean, that's one of the things you have to do --time mangement. Sure, he's got a lot on his plate, but he knew that when he applied for the job.

 

Sure graduations are just formailties to some people, but I think to some of the family members who have worked really hard to support students in completing their MD or for whatever reason on this day, it kind of sucks that everyone's intelligence was insulted by being read a speech that largely resembles someone else's and expect that no one will notice.

 

It is very unfortunate that this one mistake may end his career and was probably a lapse in judgment, but I mean, we all have to face the consequences of our decisions--good or bad. I think the question is how much punishment is "fair". I think he should do a formal public apology, but I don't know if that's enough to keep his job. That's up to the university I guess.

[rmorelan]

I'm working in the medical sciences building at the U of A, and I've seen a few profs laughing about this. The dean has certainly lost a little respect from some of his faculty. Most of them just seem confused about how an academic would think this was a reasonable idea. When asked what the dean should do, one of the professors just reached down and grabbed his own ankles

 

as a side note the big question I would have not so much whether he needs to be punished but whether he is able to continue on effectively as Dean. People who do something that weakens their power base to the point where they have a hard time gathering support from the facility, student and the all important community usually resign. Not sure if we reached that point, but no one has raised this yet so I though I would bring it up

[hking03]

It's less about academic dishonesty than about what a university represents, especially the dean. The university is a center of originality, creativity, innovativeness, forwardness... I can keep going on... When someone plagiarizes they go against these values. What reason does one have to copy the work of someone else? Dr. Baker is a very nice person, and extremley qualified. Unfortunately, one major mistake can cause someone their career. This is one such mistake, which is forgivable, but appropriate action needs to be taken to set an example.

 

I'm guessing in a few days he will resign.

 

the fact of the matter is... if he didn't commit a breach of the university's charter or commit academic dishonesty then the choice to resign should be his and his alone.

 

he didn't break a law, he didn't drive drunk, kill another human or anything punishable by law.

 

if he resigns because of his own feelings that's fine, but to assume a school is going to fire a dean because he used another persons speech (which was a very good speech) at a non-academic celebration is just a little much.

 

i certainly don't like that he plagiarized, but given the nature of the event i wouldn't think a firing is necessary (nor would pressure to resign from faculty/staff/university board of governors).

[aaronjw]

as a side note the big question I would have not so much whether he needs to be punished but whether he is able to continue on effectively as Dean. People who do something that weakens their power base to the point where they have a hard time gathering support from the facility, student and the all important community usually resign. Not sure if we reached that point, but no one has raised this yet so I though I would bring it up

 

Excellent point and this, really, is all that matters. I personally wouldnt care if i was a U of A student because its not like he lied or falsified records to ascend to the position which he has (that we know of) so its more or less up to his peers as to whether they still believe in him.

[MD2015]

aaronjw, I have no axe to grind and I simply shared my views prior to breakfast and returned in late afternoon after seeing what was on CBC.com and reporting to the forum. Thankfully, I don’t have cornflakes for breakfast.

 

 

rmorelan, you hit the nail on the head with your excellent point. In my view, the tipping point has been reached.

[medguy5367]

I agree that the Dean's actions were not ideal but...

 

 

Keep in mind that there is a subtle difference between:

 

-A student giving a presentation worth part of his GRADE in a course and presenting it as his own work

 

-A dean VOLUNTARILY giving a private speech to a student group

 

 

Having said that, this was highly disrespectful to everyone, and the Dean was right to issue the apology. Don't you think that the public humiliation he suffers is punishment enough?

 

Just my two cents.

[MD2015]

-A dean VOLUNTARILY giving a private speech to a student group

 

This is a dishonest excuse and the only one he could come up with.

 

This was a public and official function to the graduating class in his capacity as Dean. What is private about it? As if being private would be a legitimate excuse.

 

He diminished the integrity and authority of the office of Dean by his misdeed, and thereby lessened the moral and ethical authority of the university pro tanto. Apparently, he is a laughing stock amongst professors. He has lost respect and diminished respect for the university and the medical faculty so long as he remains.

[shady]

This is not by accident and certainly not a spelling mistake. The dean decided to plagiarise willingly even though he fully knew the consequences. His only hope was to go unnoticed.

 

I cannot and I do not trust someone like that. How could anyone trust what his says without verification from now on? And he actually has the final say in student admittance and rejection!

 

I say if U of A wants to keep its reputation, he should no longer be dean.

[estairella]

I agree that the Dean's actions were not ideal but...

 

 

Keep in mind that there is a subtle difference between:

 

-A student giving a presentation worth part of his GRADE in a course and presenting it as his own work

 

-A dean VOLUNTARILY giving a private speech to a student group

 

 

Having said that, this was highly disrespectful to everyone, and the Dean was right to issue the apology. Don't you think that the public humiliation he suffers is punishment enough?

 

Just my two cents.

 

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta - Code of Conduct

"Accountability - (g) Accurately attribute ideas developed with others and credit work done by others."

 

Haven't posted in like 4 months but had to get in on this conversation. You yourself admit he was giving a speech in the capacity as the dean. Unless he invited these medical students to his house, drank a couple of beers and also told terribly racist jokes about "African-Americans", there was nothing 'private' about this speech.

 

In his capacity as a dean of a medical school (and by extension, his ethical conduct as a physician), he violated the code of conduct.

 

Most CPS guidelines are very clear on this matter - whenever you're in a professional capacity, even when not doing something 'doctorly', you have a professional code to follow.

 

There is a well-known case (I believe in Ontario) of a doctor who committed tax fraud, was caught and lost his physician's license. His tax fraud did not in any way affect his judgment or ability as a doctor, but the ruling was he acted publicly (because he was arrested and his name put in the papers) in an unprofessional and unethical manner (because following the laws of Canada as a citizen is a 'professional' duty), not befitting that of a physician..

 

I'm guessing most of you are pre-meds who have no idea what being a doctor actually means. It's not just about rainbows and saving babies, there is a large ethico-legal component (as there should be).

 

I can guarantee if nothing happens to him, the government is going to take a serious look at Canadian physicians' ability to self-regulate and trust me, it's not going to be a good thing. The only thing worse than having other physicians judge you, is to have people who have no idea what medicine entails judge you.

[cardiomegaly]

This is a dishonest excuse and the only one he could come up with.

 

This was a public and official function to the graduating class in his capacity as Dean. What is private about it? As if being private would be a legitimate excuse.

 

He diminished the integrity and authority of the office of Dean by his misdeed, and thereby lessened the moral and ethical authority of the university pro tanto. Apparently, he is a laughing stock amongst professors. He has lost respect and diminished respect for the university and the medical faculty so long as he remains.

 

Pretty sure if you polled the U of A med students and they could answer freely without possible repercussions, you'd find that he never had much respect to begin with. I don't want to get into the details on a public forum, but from his past history as a dean at our school his actions are disappointing but not all that surprising..

[Robin Hood]

I agree with MD2015, if a student plagiarizes, he will get a 0 or will be expelled even if he says sorry or asks for a second chance. All that regardless if the student should stay awake 24 hours to do his homework.

[Vdoon]

Pretty sure if you polled the U of A med students and they could answer freely without possible repercussions, you'd find that he never had much respect to begin with. I don't want to get into the details on a public forum, but from his past history as a dean at our school his actions are disappointing but not all that surprising..

 

Among the professors I know, which probably isn't a representative population, they've also never taken him especially seriously. There wasn't overt antipathy, they just didn't seem to care overly much. I would occasionally hear his name come up in conversation.

 

After seeing a couple of profs laughing about it today, I saw another two groups of profs joking about it later in the day. Separate groups of professors, from three different departments.

 

It seems to me like they didn't have a strong opinion about him before, so with his actions at the speech, they seem to just think he is joke.

 

Again though, this is a sampling size of approximately two hallways worth of profs

[MD2015]

muse87, how about creating another good thread in a few hours?

[rmorelan]

I agree that the Dean's actions were not ideal but...

 

 

Keep in mind that there is a subtle difference between:

 

-A student giving a presentation worth part of his GRADE in a course and presenting it as his own work

 

-A dean VOLUNTARILY giving a private speech to a student group

 

 

Having said that, this was highly disrespectful to everyone, and the Dean was right to issue the apology. Don't you think that the public humiliation he suffers is punishment enough?

 

Just my two cents.

 

My Dean point out a few days ago there are no private speeches for a Dean.

 

You represent the school at all times, and the very fact that the speech got reported so widely shows you just how private it actually was

[rmorelan]

Among the professors I know, which probably isn't a representative population, they've also never taken him especially seriously. There wasn't overt antipathy, they just didn't seem to care overly much. I would occasionally hear his name come up in conversation.

 

After seeing a couple of profs laughing about it today, I saw another two groups of profs joking about it later in the day. Separate groups of professors, from three different departments.

 

It seems to me like they didn't have a strong opinion about him before, so with his actions at the speech, they seem to just think he is joke.

 

Again though, this is a sampling size of approximately two hallways worth of profs

 

Yeah that is kind of what I am taking about - as person in power it is great to respected, possibly ok to be feared, but it is never, never good to be laughed at

 

how is he actually going to get anything accomplished from this point on?

[MD2015]

The Board of Governors are asking the same question.

 

And they need to address the breach of ethics and unprofessional conduct as well, as estairella pointed out.

[apache]

In all honesty, I'm against pure self regulation, I believe that there needs to be multiple levels of regulation both internal and external to the CPSA and other provincial agencies so we don't see abuses of power like we saw against Raj Sherman, David Schwann etc.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2011/03/14/edmonton-second-doctor-allegations.html

 

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Alberta+doctor+backs+claims+intimidation/4460825/story.html

 

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110317/alberta-doctor-intimidation-claims-110317/

 

http://news.ca.msn.com/health/doctor-intimidation-overalberta-government

 

I can guarantee if nothing happens to him, the government is going to take a serious look at Canadian physicians' ability to self-regulate and trust me, it's not going to be a good thing. The only thing worse than having other physicians judge you, is to have people who have no idea what medicine entails judge you.