If I had been Dean, I wouldn’t have fired you for your email Mr. Buchanan.

I would have fired you for being a far left crazy.

Naaah, its not “victimization”. I would have fired 95% of the staff for the same reason, and given the remainder a first warning.

The only problem with such a suggestion is that in plagiarising Witi’s work, there’s no guarantee that you wouldn’t actually be plagiarising someone else’s work as well (think about it).

Those international corruption ratings are rubbish. I bet someone from NZ paid them a big wad of cash to give us a good score

It’s a dreadful double-standard as Grant Michael McKenna noted yesterday afternoon:

“If I gave Auckland $20,000 & photocopied someone else’s work, could I get a doctorate? Otago has this shit idea that I have to do ‘original research’.”

I doubt that we have heard the last of this saga, and will be looking forward to next week’s Listener

Its about a Professor, at a University that purports to be the best in New Zealand, being found out as a serial cheat.

And in the field of effort where he is expected to be providing leadership and guidance – individual creative expression.

When found out, it suddenly appeared that the much vaunted “Academic Standards” TM became merely negotiable guidance.

Hmmm.

The crap you have had to put up with is amazing, and I wouldnt wish it on anybody.

Have to say, you misjudged what you were coming into.

NZ academia is a small, slightly warped deeply inbred offshoot of the breed, particularly in the Humanities. The occupants essentially know they are mediocre inmates of obscure provincial polytechs. But its a small gene pool, they gave each other tenure years ago, and are comfortably off, as long as noone points it out.

But it does mean they are incredibly hostile to anyone who rocks the boat.

And of course with the internet, and the “benefits” of technology, they have managed to poison you as a “risk”, and we all know how daring and risk taking closed societies are?

You are better off out of that snakepit, you’re a smart bloke, you can do far better than be a drone in a degree mill.

Does this plagiarist attract taxpayer PBRF research funding to Auckland University for his “publishing” efforts? I bet he does.

It’s going to be delightful to watch the oh so PC humanities Deans (and higher up) be hoist by their own petard.

You have at least some of that right: Since I got dismissed, 20 applications for jobs in NZ, OZ, the US, UK, SE Asia and Latin America all rejected because of the dismissal (and BTW, apologies for the grammatically incorrect “is” rather than “are” in the last comment (less Russellbaiter have a fit)). So yes, I did fail to understand the dominant paradigm, but to be honest, when I immigrated I thought that in a safe haven like NZ academia I would not be subjected to unethical or corrupt managerial practices. Uh, guess again.

As my Kiwi wife regularly notes: “you got done.”

suck it up man, you simply failed to understand the dominant paradigm had shifted on you. As a commentator on strategic geopolitics your error, while understandable, suggests you failed Prac 101. You made the mistake of thinking you worked in a rational academic endeavour with clear guidelines. But you are merely one of the leading indicators – you should chat to Kit Richards about it.

This is the New Zealand of the 21st century, we are going to see more and more of this crap “normalised”

and before too long kiwis are going to notice they aren’t “quite” as popular as hires overseas… inexplicable really

The University of Auckland has always had shocking policies on employment matters, and this is no exception, except it is the reverse of what you would expect.

tut tut

i guess the next ranking will be somewhat lower

and there go the fee paying students

and here come the others who just want a degree from the mill.

my guess is there are going to be a lot of very angry alumni who are seeing their hard won qualifications trashed as the Dean and the VC tiptoe through the minefield of political correctness.

will Witi fall on his sword? will he require a golden parachute? or will he be summarily dismissed – as would any student caught plagiarising their work?

Or will being Maori, gay and part of the luvvy crowd make him inviolate?

Guess the science, engineering and business schools are going to love watching those humanities wankers make a mockery of real academic work arent they?

I have beer and popcorn, this is going to be fun.

Shoot. I apologised the day after my intemperate email, long before it hit the press and two weeks before it came to the attention of the Dean. Yet I got frog-marched out of the place even though dozens of students asked for my return. Witi has not had a single student vouch for him. The University said that I damaged their reputation. What about Witi?

I have to say that I am starting to think that there are, in fact, double (perhaps corporate as well as PC) standards at play. But it does seem clear the as far as the University is concerned, written procedures and rules with regards to disciplinary matters are not worth the paper they is written on. Given the corruption index ratings mentioned in another DPF post, it may be time to rethink how clean NZ (or at least NZ academia) really is.