A controversy plaguing Penn's Sociology Department has been reignited by 110 academics who signed a statement defending the would-be victim in a story of race, departmental politics and the ambiguous definition of academic dishonesty.
It had appeared that the buzz surrounding the alleged "conceptual plagiarism" of a Penn Sociology professor's work had finally settled down in recent weeks.
But this newest letter of support for professor Elijah Anderson -- which is slated for publication in the University newsletter the Almanac next Tuesday -- is the latest in a succession of written statements that make a case for either Anderson or Kathryn Edin, the Penn professor accused of stealing the "analytic scheme" of her new book from Anderson.
The problem was apparently resolved between the two in mediation sessions earlier this year.
However, controversy arose again in September when Sociology professor emeritus Harold Bershady circulated an e-mail memo that publicized the accusations about Edin's newest book, Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage, which she published in March with St. Joseph's University sociologist Maria Kefalas.
When Bershady's memo -- which he originally sent only to the Penn Sociology Department -- became public, 17 academics from prominent American universities wrote a letter to The Daily Pennsylvanian that called Bershady's accusations of Edin's undercitation "absurd."
The 110 professors and graduate students from around the world have criticized the letter to the DP for being "inaccurate" and "disrespectful."
Their statement also said that the controversy is due, in part, to the fact that Anderson is black.
"We do not believe that such dismissive language [in the letter to the DP] would have been used if the author of the original work was a white male," the letter read. "It seems that the work of black scholars merits little or no respect for its originality, insight or contributions."
Both Edin and Penn Sociology Department Chairman Paul Allison declined to comment on the new letter.
Princeton sociologist Sara McLanahan -- who authored the letter of support for Edin -- also declined to comment.
City University of New York sociologist Juan Battle -- who helped draft the most recent letter -- said that it was meant to defend Anderson from the critical letter to the DP, not to make a statement on the originality of Edin's work. That issue, he said, has been adequately resolved by the mediation sessions last spring.
"People who don't even work [at Penn] are allowed to write something unfounded, attacking [Anderson], who works there," Battle said in an interview. "In two paragraphs, people decide that we can just dismiss him. And that, to me, is problematic."
According to a statement Allison released after news of Bershady's memo broke last month, the University will not take any disciplinary action against Edin. It is not clear what effects this latest letter will have, if any.
But Battle says the statement he authored was intended to highlight the racial discrimination he thinks Anderson may have faced.
"We can ill afford to allow this disrespect to continue," the statement read. "To do less continues the pattern of abuse and misuse that plagues our history. Unless we seek justice through such [academic] acknowledgements, our silence makes us all accomplices in the process."
