Plagiarism prong in the news

General UNC Scandal48

 

A few new articles commenting on the plagiarism prong have arrove!  But before we get to those, I have a theory about the “sideways scissors” hand sign McAdoo (and others) always seem to do in these pictures.  Given McAdoo’s expertise hitting control-v and control-c repeatedly, perhaps it is a “cut and paste” sign.  If you look at the picture from the last entry…

…you will see them doing it in that one also.  Cut and paste yo!

Moving on, someone has put a lot of time into this pdf, which goes through McAdoo’s entire Frankenpaper color-coding the original sources.  The amount of words McAdoo actually wrote on his own is astonishingly low.  Does anyone think that maybe McAdoo did not know what he was doing was wrong?  That’s perhaps an even bigger indictment of UNC-CH, but it would explain the ridiculously obvious nature of the copying.  Aside: if anyone knows who did that pdf, put them in touch with SFN so the much-deserved credit can be given.

Some more news sources have picked up the Frankenpaper story.  This NESN piece makes some funny observations.

Plagiarism alone would qualify McAdoo as a knucklehead, but while all plagiarism is foolish and useless, some is plain dumb. McAdoo qualifies for the latter after apparently plagiarizing a 1911 essay on Africa for a Swahili class last year.

Heck, what could change over the course of a century?

One of the tip-offs, according to Sports Illustrated, is that McAdoo’s paper put Africa’s population at “about 160 million,” only slightly below the estimated 2010 population of 1.03 billion. Give or take a few hundred million people, McAdoo wasn’t far off.

The Great Googlers of the world identified the 1911 essay The Future of Africa as the source of the content, SI reports. It’s a good read, as anyone who read McAdoo’s paper could probably attest.

This case gets more fun, though. According to the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., the plagiarism was discovered thanks to McAdoo’s own legal team, which alleges in a lawsuit that the NCAA wrongfully banned McAdoo for alleged academic fraud and receiving improper benefits. One of the alleged instances of academic fraud included an accusation that a tutor re-formatted citations on his Swahili paper.

…

OK kids, here’s a tip: Don’t plagiarize, but if you’re intent on breaking the rules, plagiarize something a little more current, like the Glass Steagall Act of 1933 or anything else that was published in the last 100 years. There’s got to be at least a couple.

This article out of Staunton, Virginia also does some damage:

If you need any further proof that football dominates the college sports landscape, that administrators will overlook all kinds of offenses for even a mediocre football program, look no further than Chapel Hill, N.C.

…

Carolina seems satisfied to paint the picture of a coach ignorant of the rampant wrongdoings in his program. That’s preferable to a coach who is responsible for those wrongdoings. Uninformed over dirty is what the school wants in its coach.

…

If the Tar Heels stick with Davis, it becomes evident that the school is happier with a program that has a sullied reputation rather than one that no one cares about. A few extra wins a year must be worth it to the school, which is a sad indictment on college athletics and a sadder reflection on the University of North Carolina.

An Ohio State blog is particularly brutal:

North Carolina is clearly new to this cheating thing. North Carolina, for all intents and purposes, has been running a semi-professional football team since Butch Davis arrived on campus after burning the Browns organization to the ground. (Butch Davis, still employed, by the way). Nobody really cares about North Carolina football, so, I guess they’ve got the cloak of anonymity to hide behind.
You’d think UNC would just shut up and let the NCAA continue to chase the big cats, but no, that’s apparently not how they roll. One of their players, who was caught red-handed plagiarizing a Swahili paper, was recently defended by Dick Baddour, North Carolina’s athletic director:

“This work reflects his ideas exclusively. It is not a rip off. This really is his work.”

I guess this is the benefits of cheating while not even being able to win an NCAA title, but if Gene Smith had made a statement this erroneous, he would be mercilessly raked over the coals by the media. All this guy Dick Baddour got was a Sports by Brooks post.

A CBS Charlotte piece from this afternoon likens Butch to Michael Corleone, a comparison that flatters Butch more than Michael if you ask me.  The author doesn’t take it further, but with the way he was thrown overboard, I guess Blake would then have to be Fredo.

Lastly, let’s examine one particularly funny sentence from McAdoo’s paper (on page 129 of this pdf  if you want to read it):

Its population of about one hundred and sixty million seems enormous, yet, in comparison to the area, it is small. It is computed at fifteen to the square feet.

Wow!  That is some first-class 400-level public ivy work right there!  That sentence was lifted from pages 2-3 of a book called The Future of Africa by Donald Frazer, published in 1911.  You will notice that McAdoo has wildly misreported the population of Africa on the one hand (given the age of his source material), yet has put the population density of the continent at fifteen people per square “feet.”  The original source (emphasis mine):

Its population of about one hundred and sixty millions seems enormous. Yet, in comparison to the area it is small, and computed at fifteen to the square mile.

McAdoo’s fifteen people to the “square feet” is actually more exciting!  That really would be a story!  The good news: McAdoo’s edit to “feet” must be his own work.  The bad news: it turns the sentence (unintentionally) into a laugh line.

Some questions to ponder: how did McAdoo’s professor, Baddour, the UNC attorneys, and the UNC Honor Court read this paper and not notice the laughable mistakes and blatant, brazen plagiarism?  How does this paper even pass muster as a legitimate assignment in a 400-level language class?  Are any adults at UNC-CH upset by any of this?

Cut and paste yo!

General UNC Scandal

48 Responses to Plagiarism prong in the news

  1. WolftownVA81 07/12/2011 at 12:33 PM #

    Editor won’t let me leave a space for the 2011 results.

  2. lawful 07/12/2011 at 1:16 PM #

    Highstick, you need a definition of “this”, as well.

  3. backnine 07/12/2011 at 3:25 PM #

    Unfortunately, this mother load of evidence to the corruption and cheating going on to the west is only registering with people within the NC State community. Most people have no idea about any of it since the media won’t talk about it. The average person on the street may know there’s been a few issues but thinks, “according to news reports and the UNC brass, Davis is fxing everything”.

    All the other stuff that we keep shouting about is dying on the vine with no one asking question or demanding answers. Only the national media has taken a few looks into this. But b/c UNC football is low priority, no one is setting up shop they way they have in Columbus Ohio. Who knew – the best defense for UNC is their own obscurity. The OSU blog referenced above states that point perfectly.

    What I can’t understand is how no up and coming sports journalists have seen all the low hanging fruit (heck – its on the ground) and still not come running to blow this story wide open. If I was looking to make a name for myself with a big name story (its still UNC) I would be all over this opportunity. Are journalists just too fat and happy these days?

  4. TruthBKnown Returns 07/12/2011 at 3:35 PM #

    Journalists know their bosses don’t want Carolina dragged through the mud any more than necessary.

  5. wolfpacker 07/12/2011 at 3:42 PM #

    Why don’t they just turn unc into a ‘mail-order’ university. At this point in the game, their academic standards are probably higher than unc’s standards for their athletes. This is obvious due to the nature of the evidence that we have seen lately. I am trying to figure out how they get out of high school…

    When these clowns walk away with a degree, the NCAA will certainly be wondering HOW? I mean this was a 400 level course and this guy can’t even copy and paste the correct information.

    I can imagine that they are taking this seriously and just waiting for more to be revealed.

  6. Pack78 07/12/2011 at 5:41 PM #

    ^We used to pick on a Civil Engineering roommate with those old ‘Get a Civil Engineering degree'(among others) on the inside of matchbook covers;I think unx is well below that quality for their revenue-sport athletes. Can anybody remember EVEN ONE of said athletics suffering academic suspension prior to this scandal breaking? I think we all know why…

  7. highstick 07/12/2011 at 6:13 PM #

    I’ve been sitting here listening to Adam and Joe and they were saying that UNC would get off light on the academic/plagiarism situation with McAdoo cause they weuld be a first time offender.

    I think the NCAA would look sorta stupid because “WE” know it’s been going on over there for quite sometime and nobody bothered to look.

    That excuse doesn’t hold water to me. I’ve had pretty reliable info from several UNC alum that specifically referencing cheating over there for 50 years.

    This is not an isolated occurrence! Where you go with that, I don’t know..

  8. Virginia Wolf 07/12/2011 at 7:18 PM #

    highstick, yes the NCAA would look very stupid if they overlook this. They have got to extend their investigation to look into the academic fraud in all the athletic programs at the flagship.

    We’ll never see a N.C. journalist force the issue at UNX. Somehow, an out of state journalist must get interested in this and jump in head first. And it must not be a UNX graduate.

    Make no mistake, the flagship is going down. SMU anyone???

  9. Gene 07/12/2011 at 8:11 PM #

    “SMU anyone???”

    SMU blew off prior NCAA sanctions/investigations and kept on cheating.

    UNC needs to keep this sort of stuff up for a decade after getting caught, to venture into SMU territory.

  10. BloggerEsquire 07/12/2011 at 8:51 PM #

    Seeing McAdoo’s paper, and reading Baddour’s vocal and shameless defense of such blatant plagiarism, there seems no other conclusion than fraud.

    But combine that with the Board of Trustees ‘how will this affect recruiting?’ and Bill Friday’s ‘now let’s move on,’ it is impossible for me to figure out who will hold Carolina accountable. Nobody (outside of SFN) wants to see UNC go down. And if those folks are offering such public support for the program, how much weight are the powers that be pulling from behind the scenes?

    The NCAA is going to punish UNC? Really? Maybe I’m too far removed from the USC situation to see any serious ramifications, but I just don’t see the NCAA seriously hurting one of it’s golden geese.

    I fully expect this story to end with UNC getting a slap on the wrist, and Statefans walking away shaking their heads. That’s Chinatown err Chapel Hill.

  11. triadwolf 07/12/2011 at 9:22 PM #

    I don’t expect much out of the academic side from the NCAA. Florida State had widespread cheating across multiple sports a few years back and basically got a slap on the wrist. If the hammer falls it’ll be due to player benefits, money, coaches as agent runners, etc. I really think the NCAA leaves the schools and school systems to primarily deal with the academic side as silly as that sounds.

  12. wolfacct 07/12/2011 at 9:36 PM #

    My job requires me to spend hours driving the interstates and highways of North Carolina, which provides me the opportunity to listen to satellite radio, specifically College Sports Nation. UNC has been getting mentioned quite a bit, with most of the talk show host questioning how Butchie has kept his job to this point. I believe the NCAA will come down hard on the Tarholes to make a statement to the other member universities. I agree with several of the talking heads that until the NCAA hits the pocketbooks of these “elite” institutions that get caught, the cheating will continue. Based on the 9 allegations, I would expect/hope to see (a) minimum two year bowl ban; (b)loss of scholarships, perhaps as much as 10-15 for year 1, then 8 – 12 for years 2 and 3; (c) finally and possibly most effective, a reduction in the number of home games for several seasons. That’s where the pain will be felt, not only with football, but with the reduced funds available for the non-revenue sports. Should the NCAA not impose the reduction in home games, I feel certain the ACC will (sarcasm).

    I listened to Gene Smith, AD for TOSU, today explaing the firing/resignation/retirement of Tressel. It sounds like Tressel brokered a deal to fall on the sword at the NCAA hearing in August in return for being paid in June ($50K+), receiving retirement benefits (versus nothing under resignation), and the TOSU paying the $250K fine that Tressel was originally ordered to pay. I mention this because it looks like Butch and the Administration at UNC-CHeat may be structuring some type of similar arrangement.

  13. highstick 07/12/2011 at 10:01 PM #

    I’m hoping someone can record the live feed in the courtroom tomorrow for all of us to see. I’m going to be tied up at that time.

    Maybe WRAL will have it..???

  14. Red_Terrors 07/13/2011 at 7:44 AM #

    From WRALSportsFan: “The McAdoo v. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill trial goes down Wednesday in the Grand Jury room at the Durham Courthouse and you’ll be able to watch all the action live online.”
    http://www.wralsportsfan.com/voices/blogpost/9852935/

    Wow, I successfully copied and pasted from an article…I could get an A in a Swahili class at unx!

  15. TruthBKnown Returns 07/13/2011 at 9:26 AM #

    Terrors, you can expect your honorary UNX degree in the mail with metronome regularity! 🙂

    On serious note, this case is technically McAdoo vs. UNX/NCAA. But is it just me, or does this feel more like McAdoo/UNX vs. NCAA? From what I understand, they only named UNX as a defendant because historically, lawsuits have been dismissed where the NCAA was the only named defendant. So I feel like UNX is more of a plaintiff. They stand to gain a player back. But what do they stand to lose? Unspecified damages. It could be that McAdoo is seeking damages of one penny, plus reinstatement. In which case, Carolina really has nothing to lose here.

    Just wondering if anyone else thinks the same. It’s almost as if Carolina gets a free pass on this lawsuit because they are techincally a defendant. So people can’t say they were uncooperative due to having sued the NCAA. McAdoo did, not UNX.

    I have not much doubt in my mind that they conspired to do this together in a team effort.

  16. highstick 07/13/2011 at 10:14 AM #

    Bad question on my part about WRAL. Will you be able to replay at a later time should have been my question? I’m guessing that will be the case…

  17. wolfacct 07/13/2011 at 10:39 AM #

    TBKR, you have hit the nail on the head. Last week, College Football Playbook did a segment regarding college rivalries. They interviewed some cowboy from Inside Carolina about the UNC-CHeat / Duke basketball rivalry, and also discussed the McAdoo lawsuit. After listening to his response, it was clear to me that this was a conspiracy between McAdoo and UNC to discredit the NCAA and the allegations against the Tarholes.

  18. Pack78 07/13/2011 at 11:00 AM #

    ^That very theory was advanced on PP last week (got to give credit due) and certainly is the one that makes the most sense to me; unx is trying to protect their choirboy athletes v. the overreaching, out-of-control, unaccountable NCAA. So, in this view, unx are the good guys, and the NCAA is the bad; as Dr. Evil would say: Riiiiiiight!

  19. Virginia Wolf 07/13/2011 at 12:24 PM #

    Yeah, that makes sense! A conspiracy to discredit the NCAA by UNX and McAdoo to make UNX look good! They are really digging the hole deeper with all the cheating, deceit and conspiracy! Now, lets see if anyone holds them accountable. It’s going to take all of us and the press to make it happen. Not worried about us, but the N.C. press concerns me.

  20. TruthBKnown Returns 07/13/2011 at 12:32 PM #

    And they get to do this with no risk. Because if they lose, well then it was just McAdoo’s lawsuit, not theirs. But if they win, they win. It’s a no-lose situation.

    Unless someone can get the tutor and Blake on the stand and under oath.

  21. lawful 07/13/2011 at 2:44 PM #

    Sorry, I don’t agree w/the conspiracy theory. Attorneys can’t file actions to make a point or discredit a party. If they’re named, they’re necessary. The attorneys are not going to play in 12b3 land. If I recall, that’s the correct civil procedure rule.

    I can’t comment as to the injunction itself. IMO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it granted considering the gravity of the circumstances. In the end, that plagiarism looks pretty blatant. Fine, reinstate him, dress him, and play him at your own peril.

  22. imawolf 07/13/2011 at 4:10 PM #

    I agree with truthbeknown, this is being orchestrated. No way this kid figured this out on his own. Imagine all the dark meetings between the parties at UNC and their alum….. I bet there has been a lot of swearing for having to be in this position. Poor dumb Macadont doesn’t have a clue at how he is being used. The UNC system is in way to deep now.. No other way out……… errr…except honesty….and I do believe that would expose some really ugly corruption. It really is very sad and ridiculous.

  23. travelwolf 07/14/2011 at 2:23 AM #

    Great pickup on the hidden symbolism… Dan Brown (author of “The Da Vinci Code”) would be proud!

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