The Toledo Free Press apparently has a plagiarism problem. The Toledo Blade highlights once such instance uncovered by a University of Toledo professor, Mary Linehan. Ms Linehan discovered some unattributed work in the Free Press and informed TFP's publisher and president Tom Pounds in a letter. The letter went unanswered by Mr Pounds, but instead found it's way into the hands of the author of the plagiarized work--Gregg Schwartz. What happened next, is beyong the pale.
Ms. Linehan said she did not receive a reply to her letter to Mr. Pounds and it wasn't published in the Free Press with other letters to the editor. She said Mr. Schwartz took her letter to former UT board of trustees Chairman Rick Stansley in an effort to get her disciplined.
"What really makes some furious and angry and outraged and makes me feel threatened as an individual is that the Free Press would give Gregg my letter without bothering to answer it and send him on his way to hassle me," she said.Mr. Stansley confirmed that Mr. Schwartz, who was formerly his personal trainer, approached him with the letter and that he is required to look into allegations of wrongdoing.
But Mr. Stansley said a quick read of the letter and an informal conversation with the head of UT's human resources department showed that Ms. Linehan wrote the letter on behalf of her class and she had done nothing wrong.
It is unknown if Mr Pounds had deliberately given Ms Linehan's letter to Mr Schwartz with the intent of harassing the UT professor. The Blade said that Mr Pounds did not return their calls.
According to The Blade, this is the fourth instance of plagiarism at the Toledo Free Press. After a recent plagiarism episode involving former Lucas County Commissioner and Tom Noe "conduit" Maggie Thurber, editor-in-chief Michael Miller penned a column in which he promised this:
"I am reaching out to our readership with this promise: From this issue forward, if you spot an instance in which a Toledo Free Press contributor has used another writer’s work without proper attribution, and you are the first to notify us, we will make a cash donation to the charity of your choice. We will ask that you provide your name, occupation and e-mail or phone number for our records, along with evidence of the offending material and its original source."
Despite the fact that Michael Miller's promise was written after the incident involving Ms Linehan, under the circumstances, it would seem the prudent and honorable thing to do would be to make good on this promise and offer a cash donation to the charity of Ms Linehan's choice.
Please contact Michael Miller and request that he follows through on his promises.
mmiller@toledofreepress.com
419-241-1700
(cross-posted at The Nookular Option)
this could become a mighty fine, low-down-and-dirty, local print-media food-fight.
1. The WORLD has a plagiarism problem, and TFP is no different from any other paper. However, TFP has been unique in publicly airing its dirty laundry to maintain transparency and credibility. The Blade has a looong history of sweeping its dirty laundry under the editorial room rug, and the Blade only makes public statements about the ethical lapses of its employees when they are caught red-handed. Heck, when Fritz Wenzl was doing triple duty as a Blade writer , a Zogby employee, and as an employee of the GOP, they threw him a frigging party at the Belmont Country Club in Perrysburg.
2. I know several of the parties involved in the story, and while I am not at liberty to disclose privileged information passed along to me, let's just say that there is much much more to this story, and the Blade conveniently "forgot" to include some critical information.
3. There are a number of blatant errors in the Blade story. For starters, Linehan was a VAP (visiting assistant professor), not an "associate professor" as the Blade indicated. This may seem trivial, but a VAP is a non-tenure track, non-renewable three-year assignment, while an associate professor is a tenure-track position awarded after the tenure process. This is like the difference between, oh, a managing editor and a freelance stringer (OK, not quite comparable, but I had to get a zinger in there somewhere). Also, the idea that Schwartz's actions could be a "threat to her job" is a helluva stretch, since Linehan wrote the emails within two weeks of the end of her very last semester at UT.
Oh, and full disclosure: as a freelance journalist I have written for and drawn paychecks from TFP, though it has been over a year since I wrote for the paper. More disclosure: I am a university fellow at UT and a part-time adjunct instructor in the very same history department at which Linehan worked. Even more disclosure: I never worked out with Gregg Schwartz, though I once took a proffered cigar from Tom Pounds, but I didn't inhale.
http://historymike.blogspot.com/
History Mike makes several good points.
Too add about Linehan -
Linehan was known as a hateful vitriolic professor by many of her students. Disagree with her constant nagging, and see what your grade looks like.
UT did not want her back, her 3 yrs up, thus she took a job in Texas.
Also, don't trust her ratemyproffessor.com rating. Many times, she begged students to post nice things about her on there b/c students who were fed up with her posted the truth - and of course, got deleted.
Soe teh poynt uf yur poast wuz?
Tahnks fore addeng tu teh convirsashun.
I do not wish to rewrite the Blade story as they did a very fine job. Rather, I write to correct a few points.
1. Tom M. will be a wonderful lawyer. he was one of my best students at UT and he was loyal and discrete with this whole TFP matter. I think he displayed more integrity than many of the professionals involved.
2. As the grad student pointed out, I was a visiting faculty member at UT. But I was a visiting associate professor indicating my PHD, 19 years teaching experience, 5 all-campus awards for teaching excellence, and previous award of tenure. When associate professor is not capitalized, it refers to both visiting and permanent faculty.
3. I actually don't write my own ratemyprofessors. Sorry to disappoint.
4. The collusion between Miller and Schwartz, and the extent of the plagiarism problem was MUCH greater than the Blade indicated.
5. It is really irrelevant that I had been hired by the UNiversity of Texas (the system through which I am now tenured) before Schwartz went to Stansley. Schwartz doesn't know me and didn't know I had another job. He was inquiring -- apparently -- about removing me from the job he knew I did have.
6. As to the writer who knows so much more about the behind scenes relationships in this story. As far as I know, there are none. I don't know Schwartz or Miller and I'm sure they wouldn't know me if I ran right into them.
7. I was never a client of Gregg Schwartz. My only contact with him was rewriting his original website and correcting all of the spelling and grammar mistakes. I volunteered to do this and it involved no contact with Schwartz -- although I did work from his original script.
good for you. thanks for posting.
and keep commenting on the responses which I'm sure will come concerning your post.
'4. The collusion between Miller and Schwartz, and the extent of the plagiarism problem was MUCH greater than the Blade indicated'.
Feel free to flesh out the details, if you're able to legally or otherwise.
Despite how tempted I am to reveal more of what was disclosed to me, this is really not my battle, and I have no desire to create enemies with former colleagues.
If the parties involved decide to go public with their claims, this story will take on a much different appearance.
Besides, I am just a lowly "grad student," right? I doubt that anything I would have to say would even be noticed, given my utter inconsequentiality and youthful naivete.
:-}
http://historymike.blogspot.com/
I went back to school full-time in 2001 as a 35-year-old adult, and finished my BA in 2004. I completed my MA in 2006 and I plan to finish my doctoral dissertaation this fall. I spent two years on the MA and it will be about 3-1/2 for the PhD.
On average, full-time students can complete an MA in two years, while five years is probably about average for a doctorate in history. I am finishing my PhD a bit early because I have gone to school year-round (including summer terms) for most of the past decade.
http://historymike.blogspot.com/
Mike,
We were all grad students once. Everything about the situation that I know is in the paper, except the total number of plagiarized articles (which was 3x what was reported) and the promotional work Mr. Miller did for American Mobile Fitness. It certainly is respectful of you to maintain your contact's privacy -- whether or not the information they have given you is true. However, the bottom line is that Gregg Schwartz violated the ethical standards that we teach our students and that even our first semester freshman are bound by. He did so with the complicity of his editor, which certainly violated the ethical standards of Miller's profession. When confronted with the copyright infringement, Miller protected his friend. There is a somewhat admirable element in that. However, to turn around and be so publicly critical of his other plagiarists is very hypocritical. Moreover, you know yourself that last May, Miller quit our Arts and Sciences Advisory Board in sanctimonious rant about a far-less severe matter of copyright infringement. As Miller himself wrote in the Maggie Thurber editorial, he is the arbiter at his newspaper for plagiarism and --for all other writers than Gregg Schwartz -- it is a one strike offense.
Whatever you think you may, or may not, know about this situation, the facts speak for themselves. Gregg Scwartz stole and Michael Miller (in effect) lied to cover it up. If you have information that you think is relevant, share it. If not, I don't think it is fair to Mr. Schwartz or his family to keep bringing up the matter. It's over.
Mary,
If yours is such a strong case I highly suggest you take legal action. Other than that I think you should refrain from posting on here. Again legality should take precedence and I wouldn't want you to jeopardize your case. You make claims on here that if not proven in a court of law could open you up to repercussions. (I am not saying your wrong... just your statements are unwise given the situation)
In this forum the Blade is not exactly a trusted source as it is in many other parts of the city. The TFP is respected on here even with the Thurber incident. This is because Mr. Miller has been open to many in this forum... unlike the Blade. Most on here would trust the TFP vice the Blocks any day of the week.
Likewise, HM is a trusted member of this community and has never shown himself to spread unfounded facts. Even in this thread he commented yet did not cross the line.
MikeyA
1. I just found it amusing that of all my life accomplishments (university fellow, adjunct instructor at five different colleges, journalist, former business owner, foster parent, freelance editor for an academic publisher) you chose to identify me as "grad student," perhaps the most insignificant of possible descriptions you could find. Perhaps this was intentional, and perhaps it was the first term that popped into your head; who knows? Anyways, thanks for your friendly reminder about the universality of the grad student experience in academia.
2. Again: I am not going to disclose the privileged information that was shared with me, as the other parties will make their own decisions about when and where such disclosures will be made. As far as I am concerned, I have nothing else to say at this time.
3. My statements here strictly reflect my own interpretation of the events as they have been revealed to me, and they do not in any way constitute the views of any employers (past or present) with whom I have been employed.
4. Your concern for the Schwartz family is duly noted.
http://historymike.blogspot.com/