Unintentional Plagarism

One of my old professors at Harvard Law School, Charles Ogletree is in a wee bit of trouble...

A recent book by Harvard Law School professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr. includes a six-paragraph passage lifted almost directly from another author's work, Ogletree and the school acknowledged.

Ogletree said the inclusion of the passage from a book by Yale Law School professor Jack M. Balkin was the result of editing mistakes in drafts of his book "All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown v. Board of Education," published in April, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.

"I made a serious mistake during the editorial process of completing this book, and delegated too much responsibility to others during the final editing process," Ogletree wrote in a statement posted on the law school Web site last week.

Ogletree said that he will face discipline from Harvard, but refused to specify the nature of the discipline. Law school spokesman Mike Armini said it was school policy not to discuss discipline. Phone messages seeking comment from Dean Elena Kagan and Balkin were not returned Thursday.

For the record, Tree's a good guy, although I disagree with most of his politics. But the fact that he's taking responsibility, rather than merely blaming the editors, shows someone who has integrity. He may need to call Dan Rather and help him, if the forgery story is true.