Re: Plagiarism, credit, and culture

[Stephen Newmann <newmann@msmary.edu>]

Jeanne, this sounds pretty revolutionary to me--especially comming from an
administrator.  Just give me a barricade and I'll person it.  :)
				--stephen

On Sat, 8 Feb 1997, Jeanne H. Simpson wrote:

> Stephen
> I also think there is a moral imperative here, that our motives and
> attitudes should always be examined.  And that's what I'm really asking
> for. 


> 
> Me? A revolutionary?  The idea ought to make both of us crack
> up--administrators are seldom seen as revolutionaries, and my natural
> inclinations don't look much like manning the barricades, either.
> 
> What I am suggesting, though, is a kind of revolution and at the same time
> a most reactionary approach.  That is to return consciously to our
> scholarly training and to remind ourselves that one of the fundamentals of
> scholarship is to question our basic assumptions, to make sure that our
> own biases and attitudes are being considered as part of the picture and
> not regarded as invisible and irrelevant.  And to look at the whole
> picture, not just one small part of it.
> 
> I am not such a cloud-chasing optimist as to imagine that we can get rid
> of the idea of intellectual "property." There are, after all, frequently
> dollars attached.  I do, however, think members of the academy tend to
> cling to old traditions rather firmly, without examining them very
> carefully. But our own ways and notions are as subject to scrutiny as the
> habits of lichens or the culture of the Kwakiutl.  That's just
> intellectual honesty.
> 
> 
> Jeanne Simpson
> csjhs@eiu.edu
>