Friday, March 24, 2006

New Research Standards at Harvard Kennedy School?


A prominent Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, is alleging that the authors of a Harvard Kennedy School paper about the "Israel lobby," one of which is the Kennedy School's academic dean, culled sections of the paper from neo-Nazi and other anti-Israel hate Web sites...Meghan Clyne, The NY Sun


While MSM is out there looking for reasons to excuse the Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School's co-authoring an anti-Semitic screed (described as a "working paper"), at least the NY Sun is acting like a newspaper. And what a story!

Background for the story doesn't have to include the obvious, but we'll put in a little here. A scandal in higher education these days is the use of the Web as a substitute for vetted research; professors complain all the time about students doing this. Apparently, the Dean of Harvard Kennedy School and his co-conspirator Stephen Walt, are not as troubled about the vagaries of Web "research" as one might have guessed from the anguished cries of despair one hears and reads from professors. Hey, as long as the story supports your prejudice, go ahead and quote it!

Luther

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