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Monday, October 31, 2005

We at "Academic Shitheads" http://academicshithead.blogspot.com
Celebrate The Misery of Professor Brad Vice!
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051021/NEWS/510210365&SearchID=73225072175666

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/082032745X/ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/002-1114026-3270444?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
Book to be recalled over plagiarism charge
By Mark Hughes Cobb
Staff Writer
October 27. 2005 6:19PM

A book that began with "Tuscaloosa Knights" will end as landfill.

The University of Georgia Press is recalling stock of "The Bear Bryant Funeral Train,' a collection of short stories by Brad Vice, and revoking his Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, after apparent plagiarism was pointed out by a Tuscaloosa librarian.Wholesalers and retailers will be contacted and the book will be recalled, much as a defective car might be. Any individual who wishes to return his or her copy will receive a full refund.
"We will be pulping the stock as soon as it returns," said Nicole Mitchell, director of University of Georgia Press.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Author's Tribute to Tuscaloosa Recalled[no tribute: a politically correct plagiarist hatchet job relegated to oblivion, ha, ha]

MSU English professor Brad Vice’s award for the short fiction has been revoked
By Mark Hughes Cobb
Staff Writer
October 28. 2005 3:15AM

A book that began with the Ku Klux Klan marching down Queen City Avenue will end as landfill.

The University of Georgia Press has recalled “The Bear Bryant Funeral Train," a collection of short stories by Tuscaloosa native Brad Vice, and revoked his Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.The organization took the action after textual similarities with passages from the 1934 book “Stars Fell on Alabama" by Carl Carmer were spotted by a Tuscaloosa librarian.Wholesalers and retailers will be contacted through buyers, and copies will be returned to the publisher. Any individual who wishes to return his or her copy will receive a full refund.“We will be pulping the stock as soon as it returns," said Nicole Mitchell, director of University of Georgia Press.No future editions are planned.“It will no longer be available," Mitchell said.An investigating committee at Mississippi State University, where Vice is employed as an assistant professor of English, will review the question of plagiarism. On the committee are Rich Raymond, head of the Department of English, Phillip Oldham, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Tracey Arwood, research ethics officer.“What we will do is look at the documents we have gathered, through Dr. Vice’s satisfying my request for these documents," Raymond said.Those documents include both writers’ texts, Vice’s submitted explanation, communication between Vice and his agent and between Vice and the publisher.If the committee finds that there is nothing to pursue, the investigation will end there. If the inquiry goes on, Colin Scanes, vice president for research, will appoint another committee, consisting of five faculty members from outside the English department.That group would consider the same papers, and make a recommendation to Scanes either to dismiss the charge, or, if they find Vice guilty of plagiarism, spell out a degree and range of guilt.Eight penalty possibilities exist under Mississippi State’s Ethics in Research and Other Scholarly Activities policy. The lowest degree of guilt would call for a letter of reprimand for Vice’s file.“This would be the probable result if we found some improprieties, but not malicious plagiarism," Raymond said.At the other end, the worst the committee can recommend is dismissal. Scanes will be the ultimate authority on the case.“It’s basically a trial, and we take it extremely seriously. But as in any trial in America, we presume innocence from the start," Raymond said.“I can tell you we do this with a heavy heart. This is not a witch hunt. We are not out to get him."While the faculty remains emotionally on their colleague’s side, the school will perform its duty, Raymond said.He regards Vice as a brilliant teacher and writer who is loved by his students. While the investigation goes on, Vice will carry a regular workload.“He’s showing a lot of strength here," Raymond said. “Anybody would be devastated by this, especially if the errors are blunders he should have known about.“He’s in major pain."Margaret Butler, the Tuscaloosa Public Library reader’s adviser who noted the similarities in Vice’s and Carmer’s work, co-wrote the letter to the publisher that got this ball rolling “because it made me mad. I was incredulous," she said.She does not know Vice, nor wish him ill, she said, but she approves of the University of Georgia Press’s action.“I wanted him to not get that award for something he didn’t write," Butler said.Vice said in an e-mail that he regretted failing to acknowledge Carmer in the book, that “Tuscaloosa Knights" was intended as a play on Carmer’s subtitle, “Tuscaloosa Nights," of which the chapter in question is a section.Both stories revolve around a Ku Klux Klan rally in Tuscaloosa, circa 1930s. Carmer’s story is about four and a half pages, while Vice’s “Tuscaloosa Knights" runs about 20 and features different characters and situations, but following closely some of Carmer’s dialogue and description.Studying on his edition of “Stars Fell on Alabama," Vice said he assumed that, “as a nonfiction resource, the dialogue had a truth value outside of Carmer’s text."His agent, Gail Hochman of Brandt and Hochman Literary Agents in New York City, believes Vice’s sin was omission rather than commission.“This is a guy who, if he was given incorrect change, would go back to the grocery store and return the change that most people would keep," Hochman said.Vice not only has acknowledged a debt to Carmer in readings, she said, he’s in fact awed by the earlier author.“Dumb mistake, dumb mistake," she said. “The regret on his part is so immense, it’s like cavernous."The actions of the University of Georgia Press and any possible actions from Mississippi State will not affect her relationship with the writer, she said.“If he comes to me with another manuscript, and I have 20 things I need to read in my house, I would open his first," she said.Vice’s deep regret right now is that a book he’s labored on since his years as an undergraduate at the University of Alabama, will, for most intents and purposes, no longer exist.“Though I am deeply saddened by this prospect, I am made even more sad by the impression of impropriety these allegations of misconduct have left on my hometown, a place I care for deeply," he said.“This book was supposed to be my love letter to Tuscaloosa, and I am grieved that it would be read in any other way."The Flannery O’ Connor Award for Short Fiction, originally given to Vice, will go instead to one of the other finalists selected by University of Georgia Press judges during the 2004 round of the competition. Visit the Press’ Web site at www.ugapress.uga.edu. Call them at (706) 369-6148 or send e-mail to books@ugapress.uga.edu.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Subject :
At Least The Worthless Yankee Sack of Shit Is Keeping His Fuckin' Trap Shut!

I accept Dr. Brophy's resignation. While it is the duty of faculty members to espouse academic freedom and advance historical accuracy, I and the Board of Trustees maintain that Dr. Brophy has overstepped this directive in suggesting that the University of Alabama used slave labor in an exploitative manner, or attempted to conceal the fact that the University did so, all during a time that slavery was legal and accepted under the laws of the United States. Speaking on behalf of the Board of Trustees, Alfred Brophy has created a divisive issue where there was none, and attempted to promote this issue to advance his own personal ends. We wish Dr. Brophy the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Robert E. Witt http://academicshithead.blogspot.com
President,University of Alabama

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