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Michigan State U. Dismisses Plagiarism Allegations Against Dean of College of Education

Michigan State U. Dismisses Plagiarism Allegations Against Dean of College of Education

“In addition to academic concerns, Dean Jackson has unfortunately been the target of racist, vile and despicable attacks”

In October of last year, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Jerlando Jackson, the Dean of the College of Education at Michigan State, alleging that he had committed plagiarism in a number of academic papers over the course of many years.

From that report:

The complaint includes nearly 40 examples of plagiarism that span nine of Jackson’s papers, including his Ph.D. thesis, and range from single sentences to full pages. It adds to the allegations of research misconduct already facing the embattled dean, who was a coauthor on several papers implicated in complaints against diversity officials earlier this year, including Harvard University’s chief diversity officer, Sherri Ann Charleston.

“Jackson has failed all ordinary standards of academic honesty,” said Peter Wood, the head of the National Association of Scholars and a former provost at Boston University, where he helped lead plagiarism investigations of faculty and alumni. “As long as he remains as a dean, the university has no legitimate basis to hold students and faculty to basic standards of intellectual integrity.”

Now, months later, the school claims it has cleared Jackson of any wrongdoing, and is wrapping the story in a defense of DEI policies.

From The State News:

MSU: Dean accused of plagiarism, targeted by DEI opponents, ‘exonerated’

Michigan State University said it has exonerated the College of Education’s dean, Jerlando Jackson, after he was accused of plagiarism in October, and implicated in a conservative-media crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion scholarship.

A letter sent to university leaders this month — and signed by President Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Thomas Jeitschko — said a “preliminary assessment” was conducted by the university’s research integrity officer after it received a plagiarism complaint against Jackson.

Following that assessment, “it was determined that there was not sufficient credible evidence to support further review of the Allegation,” said the letter, which was shared with The State News by an MSU spokesperson.

“The (research integrity officer’s) thorough review encompassed relevant documents, records, and materials referred to in the Allegation and confirmed that Dean Jackson’s work meets our institution’s highest standards of academic integrity. In alignment with the university’s exoneration policy, we recognize the importance of restoring the reputation of individuals involved in unsubstantiated misconduct allegations. Michigan State University will continue to actively support Dean Jackson and his distinguished career in education.”

Guskiewicz and Jeitschko’s letter also addressed backlash against Jackson, much of which occurred on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

“In addition to academic concerns, Dean Jackson has unfortunately been the target of racist, vile and despicable attacks,” the letter said. “We condemn these attacks on him and reinforce our support of him as a valued member of leadership at Michigan State University.”

Aaron Sibarium of the Free Beacon commented on Twitter/X, including graphics showing the examples of plagiarized text side-by side:

Sibarium also wrote this update at the Free Beacon:

The complaint against Jackson, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, drew particular concern because of his role at MSU’s education school, the top-ranked teacher training program in the country. Steve McGuire, a fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, said it made a “mockery of the whole enterprise of education to have someone who appears to be a serial plagiarist running a school of education.” Peter Wood, who led multiple research misconduct probes as a former provost at Boston University, said that Jackson had “failed all ordinary standards of academic honesty.”

“As long as he remains as a dean, the university has no legitimate basis to hold students and faculty to basic standards of intellectual integrity,” Wood told the Free Beacon at the time. The complaint spanned 68 pages, single-spaced, and described several cases in which Jackson appeared to have lifted entire pages without attribution, tweaking some sentences and details while maintaining the bulk of source material.

Featured image via YouTube.

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Comments

So they made this decision while looking through the usual DEI racism lens instead of the merit lens.

Cut their federal funding, and make sure they know why.

    MoeHowardwasright in reply to Dimsdale. | January 30, 2025 at 6:42 am

    It’s a Michigan chartered state school. Cut all federal funding to Michigan state colleges until this is corrected. Bring the hammer to this fight against dei.

“basic standards of intellectual integrity.”

Not just intellectual, I bet Jerlando Jackson did not earn his degree, How about an IQ test to his actual capabilities’ We should do this for all Affirmative hires.

“As long as he remains as a dean, the university has no legitimate basis to hold students and faculty to basic standards of intellectual integrity,” Wood told the Free Beacon at the time.

Parents MUST act and transfer their kids out of this lousy university

    artichoke in reply to gonzotx. | January 29, 2025 at 6:11 pm

    The decision of where to go to school is complicated and significantly constrained by where one is admitted and what one can afford. A certain Claudine Gay remains on the faculty of Harvard University, but I’d generally recommend students keep their heads down there and finish, rather than leaving without a great alternative.

Sounds like the reasons Boston College gave for not reviewing the PhD degree given to a certain Martin Luther King Jr. The case was open and shut and could only be agreed, or ignored, and it was ignored.

If you don’t actually know the subject you’re writing about, it’s hard to be original. So DEI hires tend to get caught at it.

O no not a high-level Black educator from a college of education.so unheard of

IRC, Harvard initially dismissed the plagiarism charges against Claudine Gay, then President of Harvard. Later on, Harvard admitted the charges were valid.

It seems like a plagiarism charge should be pretty easy to investigate. So investigate it

    PostLiberal in reply to Ironclaw. | January 29, 2025 at 6:53 pm

    The Free Beacon link at the top of this article, at that report, gives some examples of his plagiarism.

    The original allegation cited dozens of examples. A rational person would know that it’s an open–and-shut case. But he’s been ‘cleared’ because RAYCISS.

    Watching the Trump admin crack the hammer down on these DEI clowns will be entertaining.

Lifting an idea might be difficult to prove. But lifting an entire page, verbatim. That is enough for a prosecutor/investigator to look upwards and say “thank you Jesus.”

None of these “Education” PhD’s merit anything higher than a Masters degree. Unless they are crunching huge numbers and analyzing them statistically, everything they assemble in a paper is simple regurgitating the works of others.

    PostLiberal in reply to MajorWood. | January 29, 2025 at 10:22 pm

    I have looked at the Education doctorates of five educators from a school district where I once worked. I worked with all but one of them–and he and I had taught at the same school. Of the five doctorates, only one had any statistical analysis. The rest I would call “stories.” As they were “stories,” they had conclusions that could not be replicated. So much for the doctorate being a scholar’s initial research project.

    As an aside, three of my high school teachers later got doctorates. Two, whom I considered good teachers, got doctorates in English (Shakespeare) and Linguistics. The third, whom I considered the worst teacher I ever had, got a doctorate in Education.

Lifting an entire page verbatim when plagarizing shows:

a. shows you’re lazy
b. shows you’re dumb
c. shows you’re dishonest
d. shows you’re unqualified
e. shows you’re familiar with Affirmative Action

Jerlando Jackson becoming Dean of the College of Education at Michigan State proves:

a. Cream rises to the top
b. DEI will take you places
c. A qualified applicant got screwed
d. ___________________________________

Give the guy a break. How many ways can you say : whitey is the cause of all of our problems. “

E Howard Hunt | January 30, 2025 at 6:41 am

What weasels. They get one jobsworth to take the heat, and even this guy gives himself an out if the matter somehow blows up later. He does a very thorough preliminary investigation that renders a full investigation unnecessary! What double-talk. They can’t even bring themselves to claim a full investigation was done.

As “Dr. Jill” currently seeks gainful employment, put her on the case. These “Doctors” of Education are an elite group, are they not?