Kelly Lynch & Dennis Tupper: Discussing academic integrity

Once again, the issue of professional academic integrity has touched Penn's campus. Tomorrow, the Fox Leadership Program will host famed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, speaking on the "Essence of Leadership."

As is now widely known, the media recently uncovered that Goodwin failed to properly cite a source in her 1987 bestseller, The Fitzgeralds and The Kennedys. The matter was resolved privately, and Goodwin recently issued a public apology. However, the issue at heart still lingers unresolved.

This incident, coupled with the recent Stephen Ambrose-Thomas Childers controversy, has brought the issue of academic integrity among professionals into the public eye. Institutions of higher education across the nation are persistently confronted with issues of academic integrity, but recent instances of plagiarism among professionals have heightened their general concerns.

By and large, there has never been a compelling need to thoroughly examine the ethical standards that professional academics are held to. In light of recent developments, however, that time has come.

There is no societal benefit to merely pointing fingers at the alleged perpetrators. Rather, it is incumbent upon us -- the academic community -- to probe beyond the obvious. While the media has grown comfortable in its role of bringing these issues to the public's attention, we at Penn have a responsibility to elevate the discourse in order to properly address the underlying problem.

The first step is to clearly identify the nature of this new dilemma that confronts academia; if we fail to do this effectively, we will never find a solution. The academic community must reconcile how it judges the student plagiarist versus how it judges the published plagiarist.

Doing so we must consider whether the process of writing a 10 page paper is tantamount to the process of writing a one thousand page book. The case might be made that the ethical standards that academia holds students and professionals to today are contextually different but principally the same.

But we must ask if this assessment is appropriate. Our task is to search for an answer to these questions and to define a common standard of ethical acceptability in academia via thoughtful and continuous evaluation.

It is time for higher education to examine the manner in which authors and their assistants conduct large-scale research. Currently, there exists a discrepancy between what actually happens during this undertaking and what is perceived to happen. It is imperative that we seek to fully comprehend and disclose the state of the current research process. Only after we do this can we fairly evaluate how similar instances of plagiarism can be avoided in the future.

To this end, the University Honor Council, in collaboration with the president's and provost's offices, the School of Arts and Sciences dean's office and the History Department, announces that it will host a panel on March 19 to address some of these concerns.

The panel is entitled "Ethics and Integrity in the Historical Profession: Plagiarism, Business, and the Media" and will feature History professors Thomas Childers, Kathy Peiss and Jonathan Steinberg. The panel represents the first event of a continuing series of dialogues and discussions focusing on ethical issues that confront Penn's various schools and academic disciplines. The University Honor Council looks forward to working with the president's and the provost's offices on this continuing endeavor.

Through our joint efforts, we hope to foster a discussion that will be purposeful and constructive in addressing the recent high-profile instances of plagiarism among academics, including that of Doris Kearns Goodwin.

At the same time, we must not forget that Goodwin is an esteemed historian who has much to offer the Penn community. We encourage everyone to take the opportunity on Wednesday to benefit from Goodwin's invaluable insights and experience.

That said, it would be irresponsible if we did not seize the opportunity to explore this very important and highly relevant issue of professional academic integrity. Kelly Lynch is a junior Political Science Major from Hingham, Mass. Dennis Tupper is a junior Finance and Legal Studies concentrator from Springfield, N.J. They are co-chairmen of the University Honor Council.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.