Darryll Pines, the president of the University of Maryland, is under fire for apparently plagiarizing some of his work from a website. Rather than report the story straight, however, some media outlets covering the allegations have turned their attention to the Daily Wire, the outlet that dared to unearth Pines’ alleged academic dishonesty in the first place.
The allegations
Earlier this month, the Daily Wire reported that Pines, an aerospace engineer who has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT, appeared to lift roughly 1,500 words from a website for a 5,000-word article he co-authored with Liming Salvino.
‘It is not uncommon for historical and technical reviews to use recurrent language to provide a framework for past work.’
Their article was first published in 2002. Much of the text of that article was then published again in a separate journal in 2006.
The website from which Pines and Salvino apparently plagiarized is called Surfing the Wavelets. It was created in 1996 by Joshua Altmann, who was then a university student in Australia. The website has not been updated since 1996.
To demonstrate the extent of the apparently plagiarized material, the Daily Wire included a damning side-by-side comparison of Altmann’s website and excerpts from Pines and Salvino’s 2002 article. The language is almost identical except that some sentences appear to have been omitted.
Pines and Salvino also apparently took the trouble of Americanizing Altmann’s British spelling so that words such as analysed and localised appeared instead as analyzed and localized. The co-authors may also have accidentally introduced a spelling error in the process, writing endevour where Altmann has endeavor.
Neither the 2002 nor the 2006 article cites Altmann or his website even as both include all of Altmann’s footnotes “down to the page numbers,” the Daily Wire said.
Pines’ list of published scholarship on his university website does not mention either article, though both do appear on his CV.
Just this month, Pines also allegedly used ChatGPT to compose a speech for a presentation about an upcoming pro-Palestinian rally on October 7, the Daily Wire reported. Pines claimed the information came from “faculty research.”
When reached for comment, University of Maryland spokesperson Katie Lawson didn’t even bother to deny the accusations. Instead, she said:
It is not uncommon for historical and technical reviews to use recurrent language to provide a framework for past work. Establishing this shared understanding in the scientific community is what allows for applications of new technology, which is what Dr. Pines and Dr. Salvino explored in testing a new application of the Hilbert phase. The use of customary or common language in introductory material does not speak to the integrity of the data or the veracity of the findings.
In the days following the Daily Wire’s bombshell report, Pines called for an independent review of his work. “While I do not believe there is merit to these claims, an impartial review is in the best interest of the university,” he said.
In his statement, he also admitted to including “recurrent language in the introductory sections,” ostensibly of his 2002 and 2006 pieces, even as he insisted that his “results, data and findings are sound.”
Even Jonathan Bailey, who claims to be a plagiarism expert, admitted that Pines’ case “appears to be one of the stronger” allegations of academic misconduct leveled lately against university professors and administrators, many of whom are black.
“Here, we have whole sections of a paper that are near verbatim or verbatim,” Bailey said.
The response
‘Black People: Stay in Your Lane, or You Will Be Gone.’
In other words, there is ample evidence to support the accusations against Pines, but rather than investigate them, multiple outlets and organizations have instead attempted to ascertain the Daily Wire’s possible motives for reporting them.
And most of them seemingly came to the conclusion that those who report on black alleged plagiarists are just plain racist.
“The Daily Wire is a conservative publication associated with national figures who often rail against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and specialize in incendiary content,” wrote the Baltimore Banner.
“The claim against Dr. Pines comes after a series of plagiarism accusations have been leveled at academics — many of them focused on diversity efforts in universities and many of them Black — in recent months,” tsked the New York Times.
Inside Higher Ed bemoaned the “pattern of attacks on scholars of color by conservative activists and publications in recent months.”
US Black Engineer Information Technology, which bills itself as “the STEM community’s magazine,” went so far as to paint Pines as the victim of a racist witch hunt: “Despite his long-standing leadership in fostering diversity and inclusion, some view his current challenges as part of a broader DEI backlash.”
“Black People: Stay in Your Lane, or You Will Be Gone,” USBEIT added ominously.
Pines is black. He also happens to be an outspoken DEI activist at the University of Maryland. He is so race-obsessed that the opening paragraph of his university bio touts his efforts to establish “a diverse and multicultural community.”
As part of those efforts, he created the TerrapinSTRONG initiative, which seeks to “welcome new members into our community, enhance inclusion and sense of belonging, and act upon University of Maryland diversity, equity and inclusion goals.”
In his statement calling for a review of his work, Pines also hinted that he has been unfairly targeted by ruthless investigators, lamenting: “Like many of my fellow higher education presidents and chancellors, I have come under aggressive scrutiny, both personally and professionally.”
The UM Office of Research Integrity will conduct the review of his work and will then share its findings with Chancellor Jay Perman via the Office of Faculty Affairs in the provost’s office, the Baltimore Banner said.
Altmann could not be reached for comment, and Salvino declined to comment, the Banner added.
Blaze News reached out to the Daily Wire for comment.
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