Tribe Made Right Choice By Apologizing For Mistakes

Professor Laurence H. Tribe was right to apologize for his plagiarism no matter how long ago the incident happened, no matter how unintentional and no matter if the passage was long or short (News, “Prof Admits to Misusing Source,” Sept. 27). Your article states in part that Professor Alan M. Dershowitz “called yesterday for stricter University guidelines on source citations and the use of research assistants so that scholars could avoid ideologically motivated charges of plagiarism in the future.”

If the charges of plagiarism are correct, it should not matter what motivated the magazine to publish them, be it ideology, personal jealousy, or a simple search for truth. The Dershowitz notion that the legal profession is uniquely exempt from attribution because it relies on briefs and therefore has different standards than other academic disciplines is nonsense. Dershowitz does not like the fact that the charges surfaced in The Weekly Standard, a conservative publication. So what? What if the charges had been made in a liberal publication? Would that make them more credible in his eyes? Intellecutal honesty is more important than ideological cheerleading.

Truth is truth and plagiarism is plagiarism no matter who uncovers it or when and Professor Dershowitz should understand that. Just because a story in a conservative publication might be a blemish on the otherwise distinguished writing career of a liberal professor is no excuse for putting on ideological blinders and condemning the source of the story. Even liberal icons are human beings and they sometimes make mistakes. A few mistakes do not invalidate an entire body of work but they need to be corrected. Professor Tribe acknowledged and regrets his mistake and he showed his maturity in making a quick and straightforward apology.

MARK Q. RHOADS

Falls Church, Va.

Sept. 27