Word: goodwin
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...clear, my sadness came not simply from the fact that I have known Doris Kearns Goodwin for decades and am proud to count myself among her friends as well as her admirers. Nor was I sad to see that Harvard undergraduates remain devoted to the highest standards of scholarly integrity and simple honesty; that devotion heartens me. Rather, I was sad to see how eagerly these bright young people piled on to heap self-righteous condemnation on a scholar whose too-close-paraphrasing of a few passages even the Crimson editors had to acknowledge was “unintentional...
...course Goodwin erred in following her own paraphrased handwritten notes without checking back in every last one of the 300 or so books she cited to make certain that she had not somewhere mistaken a phrase of her own for a phrase of the author to whom she was footnoting. I do not minimize that error; it was one no scholar should make, and one Doris Kearns Goodwin would be the first to admit she should not have made. But there can be no doubt that, unlike the student who turns in someone else’s work...
...very fact that a number of worthies have seen fit to trumpet their own impeccably high standards by suspending or canceling roles and engagements in which Goodwin would have performed both brilliantly and honorably suggests a rather crude moral and scholarly calculus on their part, but that is a subject for another time. My only purpose here is to help set the record straight by speaking up, as one scholar who values his own integrity and reputation for meticulous attribution as much as anyone could, for one of the truly outstanding historians of our time, who eloquently brings to life...
...Goodwin could have easily adopted a Clintonian method in addressing these issues, but has done quite the opposite. She has removed herself from positions of influence in the media and from the Pulitzer committee while she examines her options of corrective action. You write that she should send a clear message that she understands the gravity of her offense; however, no other public figure has sent a clearer message than Goodwin regarding her error and corrective action. She has faced her detractors with a surprising and refreshing amount of humility and remorse, far exceeding those whose transgressions are more egregious...
Your remarks are inappropriately harsh and premature, reflecting the hubris which in itself is ironic, since it is this exalted self-image that truly detracts from the positive attributes and contributions of the Harvard Community. Goodwin is nearing the end of her efforts to rectify her errors and a more prudent observer of news would recognize that the time to comment on this unfortunate chapter in an illustrious career has not yet arrived...