Aaron Sibarium at the Washington Free Beacon reports that Michigan State University (MSU) has swept aside charges that the dean of its College of Education, Jerlando Jackson, is a serial plagiarist. MSU’s actions appear to fall short of a formal exoneration, but the university’s student newspaper, State News, quotes a letter from the MSU president, Kevin Guskiewicz, saying that the dean’s work meets the “highest standards of academic integrity.”
The matter holds my attention because last October, Mr. Sibarium wrote to me to ask if I would be willing to examine some of the relevant documents and compare them to other publications which appeared quite similar. I did so and was quoted in the Free Beacon article that presented the case that Dean Jackson had committed extensive plagiarism in his publications. I was quoted saying, among other things, that Dean Jackson has “failed all ordinary standards of academic honesty.”
What made the case more alarming than garden-variety instances of academic plagiarism is that Dean Jackson was—and is—the head of a school that certifies teachers, and he was—and is—in the position of upholding the standards of intellectual honesty for both his faculty and the students enrolled in his school.
[RELATED: Copy That, Claudine: She Is Flagrantly Guilty of Plagiarism]
Let’s note, not gratuitously, that MSU is a state university. Dean Jackson’s malfeasance is paid for ($379,600 in 2023) by Michigan’s taxpayers. So is President Guskiewicz’s ($975,000 in 2023), whose notion of “highest standards of academic integrity” looks a bit odd. In my view, a college president who covers up rank dishonesty on the part of a dean has something to answer for as well.
The MSU student newspaper also reported that Dean Jackson was “the target of racist, vile and despicable attacks.” I can’t tell what MSU official said this, nor is it clear whether this is a barb aimed in part at Sibarium, me, both of us, or at people who responded to Sibarium’s October 8th post on X.
NEW: The dean of Michigan State’s College of Education, Jerlando Jackson, plagiarized extensively over the course of his career, per a new complaint, raising questions about his fitness to lead one of the top teacher training programs in the country.
This is a big one.🧵 pic.twitter.com/AZCRwUogES
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) October 8, 2024
Sibarium and I are innocent of such invective. But I can imagine that some of the responses were indeed racist, and it is easy to see why MSU might be eager to focus on those rather than the evidence of Dean Jackson’s academic misconduct.
The facts are not on Dean Jackson’s or President Guskiewicz’s side.
Follow the National Association of Scholars on X.
Image: “Welcome to Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan” by Ken Lund on Flickr
This article was originally published at www.mindingthecampus.org
