DU forms tribunal to punish 2 teachers for plagiarism
Dhaka University authorities are going to take punitive measures against two teachers for their involvement in plagiarism.
The duo are mass communication and journalism department’s associate professor Samia Rahman and criminology department’s lecturer Syed Mahfuzul Haque Marjan. Plagiarism was found in 60-80 per cent of 6 academic articles jointly published by them.
The DU syndicate on Wednesday formed a tribunal to determine the punishment of the two teachers. A probe body formed to investigate the allegation of plagiarism submitted its report at the syndicate meeting.
DU pro-vice chancellor (administration) Muhammad Samad told Prothom Alo that the probe body found the evidence of plagiarism against Samia and Marjan but they did not recommend any punishment.
In 2017, Samia and Marjan's published an article titled “A New Dimension of Colonialism and Pop Culture: A Case Study of Cultural Imperialism,”. Allegations raised against them that they plagiarized pages after pages from Edward Said’s book titled ‘Culture and Imperialism’.
He said forming a tribunal is the administrative procedure of the university.
In 2017, Samia and Marjan's published an article titled “A New Dimension of Colonialism and Pop Culture: A Case Study of Cultural Imperialism,”. Allegations raised against them that they plagiarized pages after pages from Edward Said’s book titled ‘Culture and Imperialism’. The DU authorities formed a committee to investigate the allegation in September that year.
The article was published in DU's own journal Social Science Review. The then dean of the social science faculty Farid Uddin Ahmed was editor of the journal. He is the current vice chancellor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
Social science faculty’s dean Sadeka Halim was a member of the probe body.
She told Prothom Alo that they investigated 6 articles jointly authored by Samia and Marjana and found 60-80 per cent materials of those articles were plagiarized.
Former pro-VC (education) Nasreen Ahmed was chief of the probe body. She said the completion of investigation was delayed due to her illness.
She said they used a software to detect the plagiarism
Both Samia and Marjan were not available for comment over the matter. Samia did not respond to several calls on her mobile phone. Marjan is staying abroad for higher studies.