This week a journalism professor was caught doing what every professor in every school across the country continuously tells students in every field of study never to do: plagiarize. The biggest surprise of the matter is that the incident took place at the University of Missouri.
Founded in 1908 as the first journalism school in the U.S., Mizzou is often ranked as one of the best in the country for the study of journalism. The school even houses the only university-owned commercial television station. Needless to say, the school takes itself extremely seriously when it comes to journalism. Wouldn’t that mean the professors teaching at the university should hold themselves to the highest of standards?
Professor John Merrill, a Sunday columnist for university-sponsored newspaper The Columbia Missourian, lifted quotes and paraphrased material from a student’s month-old article published in The Maneater, the independently-run university newspaper. First off, why would a journalism professor feel the need to plagiarize a student’s work, let alone plagiarize at all? In a news report, Missourian executive editor Tom Warhover said the plagiarism was “the ethical equivalent of a misdemeanor, not a felony.” This seems more like an extreme understatement. Merrill knew better than to do what he did. He’s a freaking journalism professor and past winner of the Missouri Honor Medal! Oh, the irony!
After looking further into the matter, editors discovered this wasn’t the first time Merrill had “borrowed” quotes for his column. There were five other columns that contained material lacking proper attribution. Merrill apologized in a letter to editors of The Columbia Missourian, calling his action “unintentional plagiarism.” We’re sorry, but when you’ve done it four times before, you can’t call it unintentional.
Another thing that really gets under our skin is the fact Merrill took the quotes from The Maneater. It seems as if the university-operated newspaper would want to remain at a higher level of excellence and work ethic in its competition with the independent paper. When something of this nature occurs, it’s more of a slap in the face to the University of Missouri as a whole rather than solely to the credibility of The Columbia Missourian.
Just because you’re a part of a nationally-recognized institution for journalism doesn’t mean the rules don’t apply to you. When taught something is ethically or legally right or wrong, it’s safe to say there’s no question of whether or not one should abide by it. Don’t plagiarize.
