Alleged Plagiarism Spanning Two Decades

RobJ · Jun 22, 2012

I've been following this one for several days on Twitter and Facebook, and it's now made the national press:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/educatio...-a-Dylan-Thomas-story-under-her-own-name.html

Dr Joanne Benford, a teacher of creative writing, is accused of multiple instances of copying the works of other writers and passing them off as her own over two decades.

One of her short fiction collections, Down By The Water, features a story called Holiday Memory. It appears to be a verbatim copy of a radio play of the same name written by Dylan Thomas and first broadcast on the BBC in 1946.

The allegations came to light after Alex Keegan, an author of short fiction, discovered a work called Postcards From BalloonLand in another book by Dr Benford, called Coming Up For Air.

Mr Keegan claims that the story is his own, based on his own children and a family trip to Disneyland. He alleges that the story was reprinted word-for-word in Dr Benford’s collection.

shaldna · Jun 22, 2012

Not another one.

And she should really have known better - she's a frigging creative writing tutor!

I know from my own experiences with the OU that they have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to things like plagiarism, so it's sad that one of their staff has been caught out.

That said, not sure how much the university can do about it unless she was using the writing as part of her work for the university.

Terie · Jun 22, 2012

shaldna said:
That said, not sure how much the university can do about it unless she was using the writing as part of her work for the university.

People have lost their jobs in other fields (such as the Hungarian president quite recently) over plagiarism. I would imagine (or at least certainly hope) that any kind of plagiarism on the part of an academic staff member would have consequences no less than a student's, regardless of whether the work was for the university in question. It goes to the heart of ethics.

Also, whether the plagiarised work was presented to the university or not, it was still a major factor in her qualifications for the job. I think it's absolutely relevant to her current position as a creative writing instructor.

fireluxlou · Jun 22, 2012

I was just on the OUSA A215 creative Writing board as that's my next course. Wow. OU don't take lightly to these things, the will come down on her like a ton of bricks.

She's been active in promoting her own books to her students as someone said in the comments:

I broke that news of Benford "selling" to her students after one A215 student contacted me at Facebook, but I don't think they were "sold" as such. Instead they were offered as freebies to "up her profile"

And it is relevant to her job. Her job is creative writing!

lorna_w · Jun 22, 2012

Since I've never heard of her, not only is she an evil criminal, she's an inept one. Steal something better next time, you dumb bimbo.

BigWords · Jun 22, 2012

lorna_w said:
Since I've never heard of her, not only is she an evil criminal, she's an inept one. Steal something better next time, you dumb bimbo.

Better than Dylan Thomas?

Torgo · Jun 22, 2012

shaldna said:
That said, not sure how much the university can do about it unless she was using the writing as part of her work for the university.

You think? Blimey. I kind of assumed that if an academic were exposed as a plagiarist they'd be drummed out of the faculty, the leather patches snipped off their tweed coat by a senior lecturer with a flinty expression. You can't get sacked for being a thief?

fireluxlou · Jun 22, 2012

Torgo said:
You think? Blimey. I kind of assumed that if an academic were exposed as a plagiarist they'd be drummed out of the faculty, the leather patches snipped off their tweed coat by a senior lecturer with a flinty expression. You can't get sacked for being a thief?

Oh they will sack her, this is in their interest to sack her and as she's an author who's a plagiarist who's a teacher a course on Creative Writing they are going to sack her.

OU will take this very seriously. Don't worry about that.

shaldna · Jun 22, 2012

Terie said:
I would imagine (or at least certainly hope) that any kind of plagiarism on the part of an academic staff member would have consequences no less than a student's, regardless of whether the work was for the university in question. It goes to the heart of ethics.

Torgo said:
You think? Blimey. I kind of assumed that if an academic were exposed as a plagiarist they'd be drummed out of the faculty, the leather patches snipped off their tweed coat by a senior lecturer with a flinty expression. You can't get sacked for being a thief?

I agree totally guys. However, I do have to say that plagiarism is a civil matter and not a criminal one (although it should be IMHO) and, and I hate to say it, there's always a chance that she'll walk away scott free. What the university will do about it I don't know. How much they CAN do about it I'm not sure.

Personally I think it should be looked at very seriously, and the right punishment delivered.

Plagiarism is never okay.

fireluxlou · Jun 22, 2012

shaldna said:
I agree totally guys. However, I do have to say that plagiarism is a civil matter and not a criminal one (although it should be IMHO) and, and I hate to say it, there's always a chance that she'll walk away scott free. What the university will do about it I don't know. How much they CAN do about it I'm not sure.

Personally I think it should be looked at very seriously, and the right punishment delivered.

Plagiarism is never okay.

The University will reprimand and discipline her if not fire her because she already broke one of the rules in that you can't promote your own works to students for personal gain, which she was sending links to her books online to her students asking them to buy the books (one of the students reported this to the unviersity then other students found their creative assignment work in her books).

There's also an investigation going on as to whether her PHD is legitimate as she earned it before they bought in the plagiarism scanners.

gothicangel · Jun 22, 2012

shaldna said:
I know from my own experiences with the OU that they have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to things like plagiarism, so it's sad that one of their staff has been caught out.

Certainly. Before I went to Stirling Uni, I studied with the OU. I remember failing to reference an essay properly, the tutor left me in tears. It was my own fault, neither would I call it accidental, and I deserved every word of the dressing down.

Ever since, I've been paranoid when referencing.

Alessandra Kelley · Jun 22, 2012

I'm still looking at it and thinking ... Dylan Thomas? And no one noticed?

On the other hand, I can remember being disgusted at about the age of twelve or thirteen to recognize a prize-winning Scholastic play as copied directly from the Christmas play in some ladies' magazine the previous year, only the characters' names had been changed from Mickey and Goofy and Hesperornis to something else and Hesperornis (yes, they copied from Disney). I didn't know there was anything I could do about it, but I remember it seemed awfully unfair.

veinglory · Jun 22, 2012

She's not tenured, they can fire her ass.

shaldna · Jun 22, 2012

fireluxlou said:
The University will reprimand and discipline her if not fire her because she already broke one of the rules in that you can't promote your own works to students for personal gain, which she was sending links to her books online to her students asking them to buy the books (one of the students reported this to the unviersity then other students found their creative assignment work in her books).

I never thought of that. But yeah, that alone is a serious issue.

Susan Coffin · Jun 23, 2012

Why? I just don't understand why someone plagiarizes others work. Why not just write your own stories?

Bufty · Jun 23, 2012

Especially someone like her who must have known she stood to lose more than she could possibly gain from the exercise.

Is it the belief that everybody gets caught but you?

Terie · Jun 23, 2012

Bufty said:
Especially someone like her who must have known she stood to lose more than she could possibly gain from the exercise.

Is it the belief that everybody gets caught but you?

Consider, too, how long it took her to get caught. I daresay the rise of the internet is going to turn up quite a few more of these situations, where people started plagiarising when the 'net was little more than a gleam in its inventors' eyes.

Jupiter · Jun 23, 2012

Susan Littlefield said:
Why? I just don't understand why someone plagiarizes others work. Why not just write your own stories?

I'm right with you, Susan. I don't understand it either. It's not just theft, it's a violation of someone else's thoughts and abilities.

BigWords · Jun 23, 2012

[DERAIL]

The internet has been around for decades. The creation of the world wide web is the big change in using the internet.

[/DERAIL]

lorna_w · Jun 23, 2012

In the US, what has happened to others is that the plagiarist triggers curious people who drag out the master's thesis and everything still in some professor's drawer back to undergrad days. It all gets scrutinized in great detail and degrees start getting stripped. There was some famous Endowed Chair fellow who this happened to, he lost the chair, lost his job, got his PhD stripped, then his MA. Probably his high school teachers were wondering, as well.

Old Hack · Jun 23, 2012

According to the Facebook page set up about this, her PhD thesis has been checked by an appropriate academic and one chapter was (I think) more than 50% plagiarised. At that point they stopped checking.

If the allegations are true it's awful to think that this has gone on so long. What was she thinking? Will Amazon demand back the monies paid for her plagiarised works so they can pass them onto the rightful authors? And what is she going to do now?

Susan Coffin · Jun 23, 2012

I want to say plagiarism stems from a lack of self-confidence to be able to produce you own stories, but I think it goes way deeper than that. However, I wonder if it actually stems from narcissism. After all, people who plagiarize think they can get away with it, otherwise they would not do it. Or, maybe they are just trying to get caught.

Scribhneoir · Jun 23, 2012

Jupiter said:
It's not just theft, it's a violation of someone else's thoughts and abilities.

It's also an admission that they have no thoughts and abilities of their own.

I'm glad to see more and more plagiarists being outed these days. It's about time they face some consequences for their theft.

Bartholomew · Jun 23, 2012

"I didn't plagiarize the stories! I ran them through an article spinner first...!"

jjdebenedictis · Jun 23, 2012

It's like some would-be reality stars. They want to be rich and famous without having any attribute or accomplishment to warrant such reward and adulation.

They want the prize without having to run the race.

It's a dream of laziness, greed, and entitlement, and I suspect Susan Littlefield's absolutely correct that it stems from personal narcissism. These people honestly don't understand why they aren't revered and thus slap together some half-assed facade to gain the attention they believe they deserve.

Alleged Plagiarism Spanning Two Decades

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

Writer is as Writer does

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