The (Hopefully) Final Melissa Elias Chapter
By Jonathan Bailey • Aug 11th, 2005 • Category: NewsAs the Rose City Blog initially reported and, now, The Madison Eagle is confirming, Melissa Elias has resigned as a school board member.
As you may recall, Elias was a former Madison, New Jersey school board president who plagiarized from Anna Quindlen in her commencement address. The address, which was given on June 23rd of this year to graduates of Madison High School. was “inspired” by an address that Quindlen gave six years earlier in South Hadley, Mass.
Initially, after the school board passed a vote condemning the plagiarism, she resigned her presidency but remained on the board as a regular member. She apparently thought better of the plan and, on August 4th, resigned her position altogether, even though the other school board members admitted that they could do nothing to oust her.
However, Elias didn’t slip quietly into the night. As the Rose City Blog reports, Elias laced her letter with some nasty salvos directed at the school board including this one:
“I wish that you had been courageous enough to accept my apology, had the integrity to admit to your mistake in handling this situation and had taken responsibility for your action which might have led to a very different conclusion than losing a valuable contributor to the Board’s quality and purpose.”
Though it’s highly amusing to hear Elias talk about integrity and courage, it’s an even better showcase of the attitude of a plagiarist. It’s pretty clear that Elias doesn’t believe she did anything wrong and is being punished unfairly. She apparently feels that a half-hearted apology and some talk about making “mistakes” makes it acceptable for a school board president to plagiarize.
That sets a very poor example for the children in the system. However, I’m glad to see the school board, and the community, stepping up to set things straight.
We can all hope that this is the last, albeit most pathetic, chapter in the Melissa Elias saga. It’s time that the community and the school board got to move on from this. They did nothing wrong and have other things to focus on.
For one, teaching the students how to write original works that everyone will be able to enjoy.
[tags]Plagiarism, Melissa Elias, Ann Quindlen, Education[/tags]
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Jonathan Bailey is The Webmaster and author of Plagiarism Today, which he founded in 2005 as a way to help Webmasters going through content theft problems get accurate information and stay up to date on the rapidly-changing field. He is also a consultant to Webmasters and companies to help them devise practical content protection strategies and develop good copyright policies.
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What a victim complex this woman has. Plagiarism is lazy as well as irresponsible and unethical. It’s not a mistake; it’s a purposeful attempt to circumvent doing one’s own research and writing. Resignation was the only responsible course of action–if only she could have done it with a little more class.
What a victim complex this woman has. Plagiarism is lazy as well as irresponsible and unethical. It’s not a mistake; it’s a purposeful attempt to circumvent doing one’s own research and writing. Resignation was the only responsible course of action–if only she could have done it with a little more class.
Actually, accusing people of plagiarism can expose you to libel. You better be sure of what you are doing, or you are risking your own butt….for nothing. Not a wise endeavor, IMO. But do as you like.
By the way, nobody likes a snitch.
Actually, accusing people of plagiarism can expose you to libel. You better be sure of what you are doing, or you are risking your own butt….for nothing. Not a wise endeavor, IMO. But do as you like.
By the way, nobody likes a snitch.
Law Man,
Actually, I’m very familiar with libel law. I was a serious student of journalism law and ethics long before the word plagiarism entered my life.
I am not accusing anyone of plagiarism. This site isn’t about shame, but discussing the subject of plagiarism and the news events surrounding it. I am merely reporting on what’s going on, my sources are well-cited and everything I report on is either double checked by myself or backed up by a reliable news source.
Trust me when is say I have thoroughly considered libel law into this endeavor. After all, it’s not libel if it’s true and, in this case, Elias even has admitted the plagiarism. I’m not saying anything that’s not already public knowledge.
As far being a snitch goes, I haven’t outed anyone nor is that the purpose of this site. I covered this because it was relevant to the topic and a major news story in the field. No other reason.
In the end, if you want to know why I am running this site, read the about page at this link: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?page_id=14 It has all of the answers there.
Thank you very much for your concern.
Law Man,
Actually, I’m very familiar with libel law. I was a serious student of journalism law and ethics long before the word plagiarism entered my life.
I am not accusing anyone of plagiarism. This site isn’t about shame, but discussing the subject of plagiarism and the news events surrounding it. I am merely reporting on what’s going on, my sources are well-cited and everything I report on is either double checked by myself or backed up by a reliable news source.
Trust me when is say I have thoroughly considered libel law into this endeavor. After all, it’s not libel if it’s true and, in this case, Elias even has admitted the plagiarism. I’m not saying anything that’s not already public knowledge.
As far being a snitch goes, I haven’t outed anyone nor is that the purpose of this site. I covered this because it was relevant to the topic and a major news story in the field. No other reason.
In the end, if you want to know why I am running this site, read the about page at this link: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?page_id=14 It has all of the answers there.
Thank you very much for your concern.