Marrow links prof's 'bias' to 1995 plagiarism case

Though the star athlete said Kuklick has long born a grudge against him, it isn't clear whether that plays a role in this crisis. In blaming long-standing animosity between himself and History Professor Bruce Kuklick for the professor's involvement in a controversy over academic eligibility, Penn football star Mitch Marrow revisited his 1996 suspension for plagiarism in Kuklick's class. But it isn't clear to what extent the details of that incident support Marrow's charges this week that anti-Semitism and a bias against athletes motivated Kuklick to push the plagiarism charge and the ineligibility question. A committee of academics is investigating the circumstances of Penn's potential violation of NCAA policy during this year's football season. Marrow, a fifth-year College senior, withdrew from two of his four classes at the beginning of the semester, relegating him to part-time student status and rendering him ineligible to participate in intercollegiate sports. Kuklick, the undergraduate History chairperson, and History Department head Lynn Lees reportedly advised first-year History Professor Beth Wenger not to grant Marrow an independent study that would have put him back at full-time status by the season's end. Marrow, a 6'5'', 285-pound all-Ivy defensive tackle and pro prospect, accused Kuklick of reporting the violation to The Philadelphia Inquirer "because I'm Jewish and a football player," linking the controversy to the plagiarism incident. Kuklick has declined to comment on either case, beyond stating that an Inquirer reporter contacted him first. In fall 1995, Kuklick charged Marrow with plagiarizing portions of a paper Marrow wrote on the Holocaust. Marrow, whose grandfather survived the Holocaust, denied the charge, and this week he said Kuklick had uttered anti-Semitic slurs in a discussion of the incident. But Penn's Judicial Inquiry Office found Marrow guilty of plagiarism, and an appeals panel of professors upheld the verdict. Marrow was suspended from school for the spring semester of 1996 as punishment. On Wednesday, Marrow claimed Kuklick pressed unfounded plagiarism charges against him and lobbied for punishment -- and still bears a grudge now -- because of bias. He also implied that the handling of the plagiarism incident was unusually harsh, due to Kuklick's influence, calling the professor panel a "kangaroo court" and disputing the JIO's findings. When a student is found guilty of plagiarism, though, sanctions are "typically a suspension lasting one or two semesters," according to Michele Goldfarb, director of the Office of Student Conduct, which replaced the JIO as the investigating agency for allegations of misconduct. The panel of professors is standard for cases involving academic integrity. But Kuklick has tried to "lash out and attack me in the papers, which is totally unjust," Marrow said. "I have to deal with a vigilante professor slandering my name and embarrassing my entire family," he said. Marrow said Kuklick was "outraged" at the course of the plagiarism investigation in 1995, and threatened to report the incident to the media unless it was resolved quickly. Kuklick has a history of hard stances on academic infractions, though. In 1990, he charged 10 students in one of his classes with cheating, after they turned in identical answers to take-home exam questions. All but one was found guilty, and the incident led Kuklick to become one of Penn's staunchest guardians of academic integrity. In the aftermath, however, he blasted athletics, fraternities and the Wharton School in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, blaming those influences for creating a climate hostile to learning. Yesterday, Lees and other History faculty disputed Marrow's charges. Kuklick "has been the strongest supporter" of the Jewish history program, according to Wenger, who specializes in that area. "The fact that Marrow is Jewish was never brought up in the conversation" about Marrow's independent study, Wenger said. "The discussion was about the propriety or impropriety of granting such a request," she said. "Anti-Semitism is a baseless charge." In the next week, History professors and other Penn officials who may have played a role in the Marrow case will meet with a four-member committee appointed this week by Provost Stanley Chodorow. Veterinary Anatomy Professor Peter Hand chairs the investigative committee, which also includes Bernard Lentz, director of institutional research and analysis, Material Science Professor Wayne Worrell and Associate General Counsel Debra Fickler, who is an ex-officio member. In response to the media attention and ongoing investigation, football coach Al Bagnoli called a team meeting Tuesday to advise his players about how to approach this situation, according to junior defensive lineman Larry Rascoe. "Bagnoli straightened everything out for us," Rascoe said. "He just said, 'Don't believe everything you read and hear. Our side will come out, so just sit tight and keep a clear head'."

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