White House Caught Plagiarizing from The Dartmouth Review

Just last week Columbia announced that they would be keeping on staff a professor caught red-handed, guilty of extensive plagiarism. And now comes news of this. Timothy Goeglein, a top White House aide, has been caught plagiarizing from The Dartmouth Review. The article in question appeared in a small Indiana daily. Goeglein admits to taking passages from Prof. Hart’s 1998 article in the Review, saying, “I am entirely at fault. It was wrong of me. There are no excuses.“

Here is part of the plagiarized text, you be the judge:

A notable professor of philosophy at Dartmouth College in the last century, Eugene Rosenstock-Hussey, expressed the matter succinctly. His wisdom is not only profound but also worth pondering in this new century. He said, “The goal of education is to form the Citizen. And the Citizen is a person who, if need be, can re-found his civilization.”

He meant that, I think, in quite a large sense. He did not mean that you had to master all the specialties you can think of, but rather to be an educated man or woman, you needed to be familiar with the large and indispensable components of our civilization.

This does not mean you should not study other cultures and civilizations. It does mean that to be a citizen of this one, you should be aware of what it is and where it — we — came from. It can hardly be challenged that the United States of America is part of the narrative of European history. Europe is overwhelmingly the source, and some parts of Europe more than others: Our language, literature, legal tradition, political arrangements derive, demonstrably, from England. This Britain-America connection is central.

And here is the corresponding text from Prof. Hart’s article, “What is a College Education?“

A notable Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth, Eugene Rosenstock-Hussey often expressed the matter succinctly, “The goal of education,” he would say, “is to form the Citizen. And the Citizen is a person who, if need be, can re-found his civilization.”

He meant that in quite large a sense. He did not mean that you had to master all the specialties you can think of.

He meant that you need to be familiar with the large and indispensable components of your — this — civilization.

This certainly does not mean that you should not study other cultures and civilizations. It does mean that to be a Citizen of this one you should be aware of what it is and where it came from.

It can scarcely be challenged that the United States is part of the narrative of European history. It owes little or nothing to Confucius or Laotse or to Chief Shaka or to the Aztecs. At the margin it owes a bit to the American Indians, but not a great deal — corn, tobacco, some legendary material. But Europe is overwhelmingly the source. And some parts of Europe more than others: Our language, legal tradition, political arrangements derive, and demonstrably so, from England.

Several more paragraphs are copied just as baldly as these. In addition, it is now coming to light that he has plagiarized other articles in the past. It seems conclusive. The question now is whether or not the White House will take a more principled stand than Columbia.

P.S. Some pre-scandal info on Goeglein.

Update! Here is Jeffrey Hart’s statement:

Bush was planning to go to war in Iraq within weeks after he took office in January 2001. This has been documented. He sold the invasion through lies about WMD. No one found even a tube of Chinese toothpaste in Iraq. A bit of plagiarism should not trouble this White House at all. The Dartmouth Review publishes a lot of very good material, and should take a bow.

Update III: Goeglein has resigned. The AP story is here. The current tally for the number of plagiarized columns he wrote is 20.