Last quarter, Seattle University instructor Tim Amen assigned a book by prominent historian Stephen Ambrose in his foreign-policy class. Now, with relish, his returning students are taking swipes at Amen for selecting the work of an author who has since been accused of plagiarism and sloppy footnoting.
One student asked him, "Are we supposed to be real careful with our sourcing like Ambrose?" Amen recalled.
It was funny, he said, but "we had to talk seriously about this." And for the next 20 minutes, they discussed whether Ambrose's work would have a place in his class again.
It won't.
Colleges around Washington have had similar discussions recently, since reports of possible plagiarism surfaced. Even University of Washington President Richard McCormick, who formerly taught history, doesn't want Ambrose's books in question to be used in classes.
For students, plagiarism can result in automatic failure and even expulsion. And now that one of the country's leading historians has been accused of it, professors are pondering whether assigning his books would undermine one of the sacred scholarly tenets.
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Ambrose, 65, who has written more than 25 books, has acknowledged he had copied sentences and phrases in his best-selling book "The Wild Blue" and other works from other historians' work, although he contends that the passages were footnoted adequately. But there were no quotations marks around those passages, as is customary for footnoted material. He apologized and said it had been inadvertent. A representative from the publisher of Ambrose's recent works has said any errors would be fixed.
The amount of attention the Ambrose dilemma has generated underscores the popularity of his work in the classroom. Nearly every college in the state has assigned at least one Ambrose book. His books on the military are well written with vivid details, and professors say his flair for storytelling makes his work a student favorite.
But in recent weeks, scholars and journalists identified passages in some of his history books that were similar to other published works, especially his best-selling "The Wild Blue," which included passages identical to those in a book, "Wings of Morning," written by professor Thomas Childers at the University of Pennsylvania.
Other Ambrose works under scrutiny are: "Nothing Like It in the World," "Citizen Soldiers," "Crazy Horse and Custer" and Volume III of Ambrose's Richard Nixon trilogy.
Another historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, recently was accused of plagiarism for her book "The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys," but her work is not as widely used in the classroom and has not been an issue for many colleges.
At Washington State University in Pullman, history professor Raymond Sun is reevaluating using Ambrose's work again in his World War II class, while his colleague Thomas Preston, associate professor of international relations, said he will continue to assign books by the "first-rate scholar."
Critics, Preston said, should look at Ambrose's body of work and not just his recent books that have come under fire. "His early work on Eisenhower and Nixon are some of the finest history books you could read on these topics," said Preston, who has been using Ambrose's books for 10 years. "I am going to use the best books for the class."
UW's McCormick, who used to assign Ambrose's "Rise to Globalism" in his history course, said he would not use any of Ambrose's books in question now and doesn't want any UW professors to do so, either. If any UW professors were to assign any of Ambrose's controversial books, "I would be sorry to see that," McCormick said.
None are assigned, according to the university and its bookstore.
A student's work must be attributed and footnoted properly, and what students "are assigned to read should have the same level of integrity," McCormick said.
Professors at Gonzaga University in Spokane and the University of Eastern Washington in Cheney say they'll continue to assign Ambrose's books to students because they believe the unattributed passages were because of carelessness rather than the theft of other academic work.
At Seattle University, where Amen has used Ambrose's work for 15 years, the decision is clear: Ambrose books will never have a place in his class.
"It's on principle," Amen said.
There should not be a double standard for scholars. "Why would you offer (Ambrose's books) to your students? That would be beyond me. What message do you send to students?" Amen asked.
Amen said the Ambrose discussion was a good, real-world lesson.
"Students all the time have to be beaten over the head with, 'Cite your sources. Cite your sources.'"
Knight Ridder Tribune
