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Saturday, February 5, 2011

Edward Wegman of George Mason University still not held to account for academic dishonesty

GMU still paralyzed; Wegman, Rapp still paranoid


WegmanGate, SkepticGate:

Isn't it Time to Slam the Gate?

George Mason University continues to fritter away its reputation for academic integrity by failing to act on plagiarism charges against Dr. Edward Wegman - but the indefatigable John Mashey has not rested in the long interegnum since the complaint was filed.
Mashey's latest update is attached below and with his first edition, here. John recommends particularly the paranoic rantings of Dr. Donald Rapp (in the new Section 3) as well as Wegman's own unfolding commentary (Appendix A 3), which continues regardless of a GMU directive that he not comment on his investigation until the beleaguered braintrust at his university decides to recognize the obvious - or cover up.




GMU Paralyzed by Plagiarism Investigation

Update: A new verion of the Mashey report is attached, with a whole new section of juicy emails

Plagiarism charges against George Mason University statistician Edward Wegman have brought the university's administration to an apparent standstill, according to the latest report from John Mashey (attached).
Wegman actually stands accused of having committed a host of infractions with the “AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORT ON THE 'HOCKEY STICK' GLOBAL CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION” that he presented to Congress in 2006. The worst, however (and the easiest to prove) is that he or his co-authors plagiarized a huge amount of material from a book by one of their targets, Raymond Bradley. In many cases, the only differences between Wegman's lifted quotes and Bradley's original material occurred when Wegman (or his assistants) changed the text to change the meaning.
Per Mashey's report, Rice University received a similar complaint against one of Wegman's co-authors, David R Scott. Rice responded immediately, investigating the charge and clearing Scott as the culprit in nine days. Nine MONTHS later, GMU has made no finding. We wait with interest ....

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