When I was at Columbia a professor I had (Andrew Chiappe, now dead, thank

god) refused to grade a paper I wrote for him on "The Merchant of Venice"

because he thought I'd lifted some or much of it from someplace - the

evidence being the way I used one particular word. I hadn't, and he had no

actual evidence, just his intuition.  Of course I was angry (and flattered,

a little) and protested to him, but to no avail. He was a poor teacher -

though a very thorough methodologist - and didn't know me from a hole in

the wall. I didn't fail his course, but hated him ever since - now more

than 30 years ago - and felt his error proved his inferiority.



.At 06:43 PM 12/1/99 EST, Harvey R Greenberg Md wrote:

>Just to show you that these things can have another spin:

>

>As a senior in college, I took a course on European Literature with a

>wonderful teacher, who I grew increasingly fond of. I wrote a final paper on

>THOMAS MANN: THE ARTIST AS FAILURE, in which inter alia I drew analogies

>between Mann's more intriguing heros and the Michaelangelo David. The

>teacher, who until that time had been quite warmly disposed to me, gave me a

>crushing failing grade and said that I had plagiarized -- not citing any

>source, only implying that I couldn't have written the paper on my own.

>

>I was devastated, went to the man with tears in my eyes, and told him every

>word had been mine. He believed me, promised to reread the paper, apologized

>in his final grading for his "barracks room mentality" -- I still remember

>the words. As a poignant conclusion, I wrote a short story for him about a

>recent complex evening I had spent with a friend in post romantic despair,

>and his critique of this -- not required in the course -- was exceptionally

>helpful to my subsequent writing.

>

>It is therefore conceivable that this student did not plagiarize a line; I

>will have to admit to my own barracks room mentality, after all of the above,

>and say that I have run across some of these words before, but -- as the song

>goes -- can't remember where or when.  Best  hrgreenberg md endit

>

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