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Poshard meets with committee reviewing plagiarism allegations

BY Scott Fitzgerald, The Southern

Thursday, September 27, 2007 1:20 AM CDT

CARBONDALE - President Glenn Poshard met Wednesday with a special appointed committee at Southern Illinois University Carbondale that is reviewing allegations he plagiarized parts of his 1975 master's thesis and 1984 doctoral dissertation.

"This afternoon's discussion was productive and I deeply appreciated the opportunity to present my perspective. I look forward to the completion of the committee's work and remain focused on my work of advancing the interests of this university," Poshard said afterward in a prepared statement.

Wednesday's meeting was the second time the seven-member committee chosen from three major SIUC faculty groups has met this week, said SIUC spokesman Rod Sievers.

Although SIUC Chancellor Fernando Trevino had hoped publicly the committee would arrive at some conclusions and recommendations before the end of the month, it is likely they will continue reviewing the allegations through most of October, Sievers said.

"The chancellor said they could take all the time they needed," Sievers said.

Trevino said committee members also could seek outside consultation.

In a letter from Trevino to the committee shortly before they began meeting a few weeks earlier, the chancellor wrote a review of Poshard's work should be framed within "a historical and disciplinary context," Sievers said.

That meant the tenets of the 1975 and 1984 student codes of conduct addressing plagiarism would act as guidelines in the evaluation of Poshard's particular work.

Committee members also were given copies of a plagiarism report released a week earlier by a blue-ribbon committee that formed a year earlier at Poshard's urging to pinpoint a definition for plagiarism and to recommend a guideline to curb the dishonest practice at SIU.

scott.fitzgerald@thesouthern.com

351-5076