FW from Erwin Chemerinsky re: Tribe

[Volokh, Eugene]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Erwin Chemerinsky [mailto:chemerinsky at law.duke.edu] 
> Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 7:29 PM
> To: Volokh, Eugene
> Subject: A favor
> . . .
> For many reasons, I virtually never have participated in a 
> listserv discussion.  But I thought it important to weigh in 
> on the accusations against Larry Tribe.  Professor Tribe, in 
> an interview with the Harvard Crimson, already has 
> acknowledged that he should have given attribution when he 
> used some of the words, particularly a 19 word passage, from 
> Abraham's book.  Of course, this is correct.  My concern -- 
> which motivates my writing -- is about accusations of 
> academic dishontesty.  Plagiarism is one of the most serious 
> charges that can be made against an academic.  The problem, 
> as this instance shows, is that it can cover a huge range of 
> conduct, from the truly egregious to the relatively 
> innocuous.  Tribe made a mistake, but in context it was not a 
> very serious one and certainly not one that warranted the 
> tone of the Weekly Standard article.  He was writing about 
> historical facts; he did not take any ideas from Abraham's 
> book.  The book was for a popular press audience and lacked 
> footnotes or endnotes.  The book expressly acknowledges 
> Abraham's book.  Tribe should have used quotation marks and 
> footnotes when he was using Abraham's words.  But  this is 
> not serious misconduct and it shows we all need to be careful 
> and nuanced when we use words like plagiarism.
> 
> Erwin Chemerinsky
> Duke Law School