Wichita State University freshman Ryan Whalen, right, said the decision not to sanction WSU president Richard Muma for failure to properly attribute writing of other scholars in his 2004 doctoral dissertation didn’t mean there should be greater tolerance of plagiarism among students and faculty. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
WICHITA — Freshman Ryan Whalen briefly pondered whether a new academic benchmark was set when no sanctions were levied against Wichita State University president Richard Muma after it was revealed up to 5% of his doctoral dissertation was copied without quotation marks to recognize original scholars.
Whalen, a business administration student from Colorado Springs, Colorado, rejected the suggestion that the Muma controversy meant fresh precedent had been established for WSU students accused of plagiarism.
“What if we had a 5% rule like that?” he said. “No. In my opinion, you cheat or you don’t cheat. There’s no half-cheating.”
Kansas Reflector in October reported on Muma’s failure to properly credit more than 20 authors of books and journal articles in his 2004 dissertation that led to awarding of a doctorate from University of Missouri in St. Louis. At least 10 professors at public and private colleges outside of WSU said the lifting of more than 50 phrases, sentences and paragraphs without quotation marks amounted to plagiarism.