(Lori Piotrowski) – What kind of students will our colleges graduate?
UNLV students can expect to spend between $10,000 and $12,000/year, UNR students closer to $11,000/year, while those attending CSN are looking at significantly lower costs, roughly $4,500/year.
For the sums of money these institutions are taking in, we expect the educators to be imparting knowledge about their specialized fields to the younger generation.
A close look at the schools’ websites also shows that they place a high regard on ethics and morality.
At the College of Southern Nevada, the “values of honesty, trust, respect, fairness, responsibility, and professionalism” are emphasized to the students.
UNLV touts similar values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.
UNR promotes “excellence in all of our endeavors” and “integrity in all our actions.”
All this emphasis on ethics and morals should awaken the faculty to a higher calling as well. From what I’ve seen during my years of teaching at several colleges and universities, I’m sure it does.
But it’s also why Jason Arday’s fall from grace at Cambridge University has created a furor throughout the ivory towers of academia as well as the public.
At some point during Arday’s schooling, his professors failed him. Over and over.
During my grad school studies, we were excoriated if our papers cited a journal incorrectly, let alone if we didn’t cite the source at all.
Arday’s doctoral thesis was riddled with plagiarism. (Trust me, in academia, plagiarism is not tolerated from students…unless you’re Jason Arday.)
A second report raised the incidences from just over 100 to 188 sentences. You only get to that level of plagiarism if you’ve gotten away with it consistently for years.
From multiple professional educators.
Who know better than to allow a student to do this.
Yet Arday’s plagiaristic practices extended beyond his schooling. His CV read like a Grimm’s fairy tale.
Once again, we see where the university officials failed the institution. The professors interviewing Arday fell in love with him—obviously. And it seems that HR did too.
Does anyone in HR check references anymore? (Personally, I’m peeved that Arday listed my alma mater, The Ohio State University, as one where he had been employed. OSU officials have no record of his employment.)
Arday listed several places he had never worked.
Did anyone on the interview committee even bother to verify his published papers?
Probably not.
But then, even if they were published, we’ve already seen instances where peer-reviewed journals publish papers filled with errors.
Although I’ve skirted all the racial issues that others are raising, the central point is that a man was promoted through the ranks when he was not qualified.
By people who knew he wasn’t qualified.
Allowing him to teach impressionable minds without the qualifications to do so.
Our students deserve to be taught by educators who will hold them accountable to the ethics and values of their institutions.
To instill these values of honesty, trust, respect, fairness, responsibility, excellence, and integrity in the next generation.
By individuals who hold and adhere to the same.
Ut ita sit. May it be so.
Lori Piotrowski holds a Master of Arts in Romance Languages from The Ohio State University. She has taught Spanish and Portuguese at The Ohio State University, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the College of Southern Nevada. She is the author of Revolutionary Spark, the third novel of the Molly Weston Chronicles. The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology may have been used in the research, writing, or production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
