After a bit of a summer hiatus, I’m back to blogging about McGill and academic integrity.
Back on July 9, I received an announcement from the Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities (CREPUQ) of their planned workshop on electronic plagiarism, to be held on October 29 at the Universit? du Qu?bec ? Trois-Rivi?res. I immediately responded that this was a topic of considerable interest and volunteered to give a presentation about the issues I have encountered in this regard, as well as some of the reports I have received from colleagues at other universities.
Not at all surprisingly, my offer was politely declined today, with the official citing as an excuse that the organizers already selected speakers based on “very specific criteria concerning the tools recently used or created in universities”. There may well be an element of truth to this, although the workshop announcement clearly articulates the themes of the workshop as follows:
- Vous ?tes pr?occup?s par le plagiat ?lectronique ? l?universit? ? (“Are you concerned about electronic plagiarism at the university?”)
- Vous voulez en savoir plus sur les diff?rentes formes qu?il peut prendre ? (“Would you like to know more about the different forms it can take?”)
- Vous d?sirez conna?tre ce qui se fait dans les universit?s qu?b?coises pour le pr?venir ou le punir ? (“Would you like to know what is being done in Quebec universities to prevent or punish it?”)
- Vous souhaitez d?couvrir des initiatives originales mises en place par certaines universit?s ? (“Would you like to learn about new initiatives put in place by certain universities?”)
Not to sound self-aggrandizing, but doesn’t it seem that the individual who built up this website, documented the systemic abuses of academic integrity related to electronic plagiarism, and taken steps to combat it by meeting with student groups and promoting changes to the academic code, would have something to say about these topics of relevance to the audience?
Of course he would. But then, is that what CREPUQ wants? Keep in mind that the President of CREPUQ is, after all, McGill’s current Principal and Vice-Chancellor, and come to think of it, inviting a McGill prof to shine a bright light on the reality of what takes place at her university is probably not the best form of advertising one could put out to an assembly of academics from Quebec universities. Naturally, it would look a lot better for McGill to talk about the tools put in place to help detect plagiarism, rather than what happens when someone is caught. But then, if you don’t administer a fair system for punishing the offenders, what’s the point of the technology?
Numerous politicians are criticized for their folly of surrounding themselves with “yes-men” who don’t dare point out problems from within. CREPUQ, in organizing a workshop intended to address a very important issue but deliberately excluding from the agenda discussion of the actual problem, is very much guilty of the same behaviour.