Posted on 03/15/2002 4:26:35 AM PST by jpthomas
Amid controversy for plagiarizing passages of a book, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has been uninvited as the keynote speaker for James Madison Day Friday.
"It sends a very good message," Kevin Hardwick, assistant professor of history, said. "It says that as an academic community we take academic integrity seriously."
Goodwin originally was set to speak in Wilson Hall at 9:30 a.m. Friday, but has been replaced by Lawrence Eagleburger, who served as President George H. W. Bush's first secretary of state.
According to the March 7 Richmond Times-Dispatch, Goodwin "has admitted passing off scores of passages written by others as her own in her 1987 book, 'The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.'" JMU's decision to withdraw its invitation to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author came during a tide of rejections for Goodwin. She first was dropped as the University of Delaware's commencement speaker, then began an indefinite leave from PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," and most recently she pulled out as a Pulitzer Prize judge.
"We ask students to take very seriously their responsibility to uphold the honor code," said Andy Perrine, co-chair of the Madison Committee and director of the Identity Leadership Team. "And JMU faculty go to great lengths with their own publishing to make certain they don't make the sort of mistake Doris Kearns Goodwin is accused of making. Bringing her here could be seen as contradictory to the university's commitment to those ideals."
The university lost its $17,500 deposit for Goodwin, who had charged a $35,000 honorarium fee, according to Director of University Communications Fred Hilton. Hilton said Goodwin's contract was signed about a year ago. Eagleburger is charging $10,000 for his return to JMU after previously being the commencement speaker May of 1995. "This of course was a hard decision," Perrine said of JMU withdrawing its invitation to Goodwin. "We knew we would have to find another speaker and redo all of the event materials in less than two weeks. This is for an event 12 months in planning."
On Feb. 28, discussions began about the validity of Goodwin's appearance, said Associate Vice President of University Relations Glenda Rooney. Rooney said that when she spoke to Goodwin on the phone several times, Goodwin said she still hoped JMU would allow her to come. "She was very concerned that she was losing the contracts," Rooney said.
Perrine said, "Goodwin was canceled as speaker for James Madison Day out of consideration for our students and faculty. After new revelations of Ms. Goodwin's situation emerged at the end of February, we asked ourselves the question, 'How far can we distinguish an honest mistake … from downright plagiarism?'"
According to Hilton and Perrine, administrators decided to withdraw Goodwin's invitation out of principle, despite JMU's loss of $17,500. Perrine said JMU President Linwood Rose gave the final approval of withdrawing Goodwin's invitation.
"I was very gratified to see the decision the administration made," Hardwick said. "I don't see how in good faith she should be speaking here." Hardwick said the new speaker, Eagleburger, is "a man of real gravitas — a man of character."
Hilton called Eagleburger "a brilliant man. James Madison was the fifth secretary of state and Eagleburger was the 62nd, so they're part of an exclusive club."
Rooney said, "It's not about who's the speaker; it's about celebrating James Madison's birthday."
But would these same administrators cancel the appearance of an ex-president who, it turned out, had lied under oath? I think not.
If Joe Biden writes a book that appropriates words from a Doris Kearns Goodwin book and then Nina Tetenberg writes a book that appropriates words from Joe Boden's book, then who is the plagiarist?
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