Harvard Plagiarism Archive: New York Times story on Professors Tribe and Ogletree

Harvard Plagiarism Archive

"[T]he problem of writers . . . passing off the work of others as their own . . . [is] a phenomenon of some significance."
PROFESSOR LAURENCE TRIBE, e-mail to Dean Lawrence Velvel, 9/13/2004

"'I . . . delegated too much responsibility to others . . .,' [Prof. Charles Ogletree] said. 'I was negligent
in not overseeing more carefully the final product that carries my name.' * * * Ogletree told The Crimson that
he had not read the passage of Balkin’s book that appears in his own work. An assistant inserted the material
into a manuscript . . . . But Ogletree said he was closely involved in most of the drafting of the book . . . ."
STEVEN MARKS, "Ogletree Faces Discipline for Copying Text," The Harvard Crimson, 9/13/2004

"'Ronald Klain . . . then only a first-year student at Harvard law . . . spent most of his time with
Tribe working on Tribe's [1985] book God Save This Honorable Court,'" the Legal Times added in 1993.
* * * 'Many of Klain's friends and former colleagues say that he wrote large sections of the book . . . .'"
JOSEPH BOTTUM, "The Big Mahatma," The Weekly Standard, 10/4/2004

"[A]fter several plagiarism scandals broke over distinguished faculty members at Harvard's law school, including
Laurence Tribe,a group of students there set up a blog, Harvard Plagiarism Archive, to follow the University's
handling of the problem. They believe that the University, President Summers, and Dean Elena Kagan
essentially white-washed the scandal and are demanding further action.
PROF. RALPH LUKER, History News Network's "Cliopatria" blog,4/26/2005

“The Tribe and Ogletree matters have catalyzed bitter complaints from Harvard students that the university
employs a double standard. . . . The students have every right to be incensed over this gross double standard.
They in fact ought to raise hell peacefully about it: a constant barrage of letters, emails, statements . . . .”
DEAN LAWRENCE VELVEL, "Velvel on National Affairs" blog, 4/28/2005

"If you want to keep track of this story, I recommend the new Harvard Plagiarism Archive. . . . [I]t's pretty thorough."
TIMOTHY NOAH, Slate's "Chatterbox" blog,9/28/2004

"[Y]ou have done a wonderful service to all by operating the AuthorSkeptics website . . . a fine public service."
DEAN LAWRENCE VELVEL, author of "Velvel on National Affairs," e-mail to AuthorSkeptics, 4/19/2005

Saturday, November 27, 2004

New York Times story on Professors Tribe and Ogletree

The November 24 New York Times carred an important story on plagiarism by university scholars which prominently featured the stories concerning Professors Tribe and Ogletree. See here.

The most startling aspect of the article, in our view, is that Professor Tribe refused to grant an interview to even The New York Times regarding the charges against him. By contrast, and to his credit, Professor Ogletree gave interviews on the the problems with his own book to, at minimum, the Boston Globe and the Harvard Crimson.

Of considerable interest, even though he declined comment, Professor Tribe employed his office staff to assist him in an effort to further publicize as "fact" what some of his current and former students on November 4 stated to be a "fact" (see here): that Professor Tribe, before publishing his 1985 which copied from Professor Abraham without attribution, sent Professor Abraham a pre-publication copy. Thus, the article states:

Professor Tribe declined to comment on the matter. His office released a letter that it said Professor Tribe sent to Professor Abraham 20 years ago, along with a copy of Professor Tribe's manuscript; Professor Tribe wrote that he had drawn on Professor Abraham's book, in part, and asked for his reactions.

What is especially interesting is that given the wording of this passage, it seems evident that the New York Times is in no way endorsing the authenticity of the letter released by Professor Tribe's letter, which suggests that the reporter tried to confirm the information by checking with Professor Abraham to see whether such a letter was received, but was unable to confirm the information. Thus, contrary to the idea that it is a "fact" that Professor Tribe sent a pre-publication copy to Professor Abraham, it seems that no one with personal knowledge of the matter has come forward to state that a pre-publication copy was sent. However, we will avoid passing judgment on the matter until Professor Tribe comments further on the story involving him.

Harvard Plagiarism Archive