Ambrose's book to stay on syllabus

At first glance, the reading list for History 431, "A World at War" looks like any other college syllabus. Students in the class, taught by History Professor Thomas Childers, will read a book written by noted historian Stephen Ambrose.

But it's no longer just the syllabus that connects these two academic figures.

Last Saturday, Ambrose admitted to using phrases and passages that were very similar to Childers' 1995 historical work The Wings of Morning in his latest book, The Wild Blue. The Wings of Morning was written about Childers' uncle's experience on a B-24 bomber crew during World War II.

However, despite the attack on Ambrose's credibility, Childers will continue to use Ambrose's work, Band of Brothers, which has not come under criticism, in his course this semester -- a decision, he said, which was not difficult to make.

"Why should it be?" Childers asked. "When I assigned it, there hadn't been any charges against it or against Ambrose."

But some of Childers' colleagues have said that if Ambrose were on their reading lists, they would think twice about whether or not to assign the reading.

In an interview earlier this week, History Professor Alan Kors said if he were in Childers' position, he would definitely remove Ambrose from the syllabus.

"I would be ashamed to have my students read, at my recommendation, someone whose work involves plagiarism," Kors said. "For me, a lack of integrity in that area would cast doubt on the standards he had applied in the rest of his work."

But Childers disagrees.

"I don't think in any way shape or form it's saying I endorse plagiarism or that I endorse the book," Childers said. "It will give us a chance to talk about all of these things."

Childers said another point to consider is whether Ambrose's reported plagiarism was one isolated incident or part of a series of offenses -- a question many people are asking after Forbes magazine reported earlier this week that this was not the first time Ambrose passed off the words of others as his own.

"If it turns out that it is a pattern and not one incident, then I won't use the book in the future," Childers said.

Some students in Childers' class are unsure of what to think at this point about having to read one of Ambrose's books, but said that the issue of plagiarism was definitely on their minds during this first week of class.

"When I bought Band of Brothers, it was a hugely ironic feeling," College junior Katie Jorgensen said. "Here I am buying Ambrose's book for the class of the guy he plagiarized from."

Childers briefly mentioned the controversy during his first lecture, saying simply that he doesn't encourage plagiarism. When the class arrives at the point in the year where they will read Band of Brothers, Childers plans to incorporate a more extensive discussion on plagiarism into the class.

Some students in the class expressed confusion over the controversy.

"I don't really understand," College junior Susan Goodman said. "Ambrose footnoted it. Isn't that considered citation? Is the whole problem that he didn't do a lot of it?"

Childers said that although Ambrose did footnote The Wings of Morning, he used passages that should have been in quotation marks and were not.

Childers said he realizes what a difficult time this past week has been for Ambrose.

"Later this semester, we'll talk about the implications of plagiarism for a man of that standing," Childers said. "No one will ever look at Stephen Ambrose's work again without this being in his or her mind."

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