UNB :
Plagiarism is nothing but cheating. But when the gatekeepers of academic integrity indulge in such an unethical practice, some universities choose to turn a blind eye. At least this holds true for the country’s most prestigious Dhaka University.
While the university has found evidence of plagiarism against 11 of its teachers in the past four years, it has been slow to upbraid or punish offenders-so far, punitive action has been taken against three of them only. Offenders, on the other hand, have blamed someone else for the mistakes.
The teachers who have faced the wrath of the university authorities for plagiarism are Md Omar Faruq of the Islamic history and culture department, Sayed Mahfuzul Haque Marzan of the criminology department, and Samia Rahman of the mass communication and journalism department.
In 2018, then assistant professor Omar’s PhD degree was cancelled on charges of plagiarism. In October 2020, the university formed a special tribunal to determine his punishment. Later, on its recommendation,the DU Syndicate-the governing body-asked the teacher to serve as a lecturer.
On similar grounds, associate professor Samia and assistant professor Marzan were redesignated as assistant professor and lecturer, respectively, in 2020. The action came three years after a panel was formed to probe allegations of plagiarism against the duo for an article they had co-authored.
In fact, in 2017, the University of Chicago Press wrote to DU, claiming that Samia
and Marjan had, in their co-authored write-up, “used portions without proper citations” from French philosopher Michel Foucault’s 1982 article ‘The Subject and Power’. The duo’s article was published in DU’s Social Science Review in 2016.
When asked about the accusations, Marjan, in 2017, said that Samia was the first author of their joint article and “if there were any problems, they were in her portion of the work.” Samia, on her part, had said: “I was abroad when the article was published. He submitted it without consulting me.”
However, no meaningful action has been taken in other cases of plagiarism.
In September 2017, for instance, the DU syndicate formed a five-member panel, led by then pro vice chancellor (academic) Nasreen Ahmed, to probe allegations of plagiarism against tourism and hospitality management department’s three assistant professors-Bodruzzaman Bhuiyan, Nusrat Jahan and her husband Ruhul Amin.
