Wegman slapped on wrist
Feb 24, 2012
Bishop Hill in Climate: Parliament

The accusation of plagiarism against Edward Wegman, author of one of the Congressional reports into the Hockey Stick, appears to have been upheld, but I think it's fair to say the university hasn't treated it as a capital offence, presumably because the passages in question were background material.

In a statement to GMU faculty, provost Peter Stearns said that one investigation committee unanimously found that "no misconduct was involved" in the 2006 Congressional report. "Extensive paraphrasing of another work did occur, in a background section, but the work was repeatedly referenced and the committee found that the paraphrasing did not constitute misconduct," he said, in the statement.

A second university committee found unanimously, "that plagiarism occurred in contextual sections of the (CSDA) article, as a result of poor judgment for which Professor Wegman, as team leader, must bear responsibility." Wegman will receive an "official letter of reprimand", Stearns said, as sanction for the plagiarism.

 

Update on Feb 24, 2012 by Registered CommenterBishop Hill

When the plagiarism allegations were raised against Wegman, there were many people who argued that anything he had ever written should be treated as untrustworthy. There are interesting parallels to the Gleick case there.

For me, it's a logical fallacy to argue in that way, so I say that the oeuvres of Wegman and Gleick still stand.

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