Democratic Candidate Plagued With Charges of Plagiarism

As if running against John McCain in Arizona was not hard enough, Democratic nominee Rodney Glassman may now be facing a new uphill struggle: accusations of plagiarism. These accusations, moreover, reveal just how difficult it is becoming these days to bury these actions in the past: A student, working on his own dissertation, decided to pull Glassman's out from the library. What he read was, in his words, such a bad paper that he decided to post his thoughts about it on the internet. Days later, he received an anonymous tip that claimed Glassman had picked off entire passages of the work from other books.

A student took the advice and did a little bit more research on his own. Upon finishing his investigations, he noted that their were striking similarities between many passages from Glassman's University of Arizona dissertation and other works on the same subject. If the charges pan out, which Glassman has come out and denied, it could seriously impair his title of doctor and his respect in the eyes of the public.

While in the scheme of things a couple copied passages may seem relatively inconsequential, what is more important to note is that the impulse to plagiarize and cheat are very seldom one-time occurances. They are a way of thinking that can affect not only the way one researches and writes a paper, but quite possibly the manner in which one studies, formulates and implements policy. It may be near-impossible to win the trust of the general public with these charges hanging over one's head. Then again, if you break someone's trust (in this case, the University of Arizona and everyone who has ever referred to you as doctor), then it could be a little difficult to entrust you with public office.