Never is a rift within an academic department a good thing. It is particularly troubling when faculty members take sides and make accusations abut each other's academic integrity.
That's what has happened in the Sociology Department at Penn. And although School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rebecca Bushnell has said the conflict has been resolved, tensions are still running high across the department.
That just isn't healthy for academics.
Whether or not Kathryn Edin's book did include material that was plagiarized, as fellow professor Harold Bershady has accused, is unclear. She may not have done anything wrong. It's also not really the issue here.
The problem is how these accusations were handled by the department and the resolution process that took place. The case was mediated internally, which is the norm across academia, and Bushnell says that the case is closed.
An agreement may have been reached between Edin and professor Elijah Anderson, whose work was allegedly lifted without appropriate citation. But the fact that faculty within the department and in the field of sociology nationwide are still buzzing about this issue makes it clear that it has not been fully resolved.
Someone must step forward and clear up the confusion. Academics and students alike need reassurance that plagiarism is not happening within their ranks, and if it is, that it is being dealt with in a fair and honest manner.
Academic integrity is the foundation upon which institutions of higher learning were built. Maintaining the high standards that are expected of Penn is vitally important for both attracting the best faculty to the University and maintaining Penn's reputation as a leading research institution.
