Professor Fired for Humiliating Students for Plagiarism

Writingcomp From the Daily Texan a couple of weeks ago:

Texas A&M International University in Laredo fired a professor for publishing the names of students accused of plagiarism.

In his syllabus, professor Loye Young wrote that he would “promptly and publicly fail and humiliate anyone caught lying, cheating or stealing.” After he discovered six students had plagiarized on an essay, Young posted their names on his blog, resulting in his firing last week.

“It’s really the only way to teach the students that it’s inappropriate,” he said.

Young, a former adjunct professor of management information systems, said he believes he made the right move. He said trials are public for a reason, and plagiarism should be treated the same way. He added that exposing cheaters is an effective deterrent.

This seems like a shaming method of punishment. Does it actually matter whether it works as an effective deterrent or is the medicine much worse than the disease?

Cross posted at Workplace Prof Blog.

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The Push for a New OSHA Rule on Toxic Substances

Osha_logo_xsm He may be the lamest of all lame ducks, but President Bush and his administration are not going out without trying to make it harder for workplaces to regulate toxic substances.

From the New York Times:

The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.

The rule, which has strong support from business groups, says that in assessing the risk from a particular substance, federal agencies should gather and analyze “industry-by-industry evidence” of employees’ exposure to it during their working lives. The proposal would, in many cases, add a step to the lengthy process of developing standards to protect workers’ health.

Public health officials and labor unions said the rule would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses.

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Professor Esenberg on Crawford and the Scope of Employee Protections From Retaliation

Rick Esenberg has a new podcast on the Federalist Society website, in which he comments on Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.  Crawford, currently pending before the United States Supreme Court, deals with the scope of the antiretaliation provisions of Title VII.  Rick’s podcast provides a succinct and helpful summary and assessment of the facts and arguments in the case.

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