Plagiarizing Dean Is Put on Leave

The University of Missouri at Kansas City has placed a dean who was caught plagiarizing other people’s work on administrative leave. He will continue with the university as a professor until a new chancellor makes a final decision about his employment at the end of 2005.

Bryan F. Le Beau, who was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said he did not expect to retain that position when all is said and done.

“I can’t imagine the circumstances where the university would want me to return as dean,” Mr. Le Beau said. “The university has to make a decision that’s in its best interest.”

Mr. Le Beau has admitted to lifting parts of other people’s work for a commencement address that he delivered in December 2003. The Chronicle first reported in June that passages from his speech were nearly identical to parts of a speech delivered by Cornel West, now a professor of religion and African-American studies at Princeton University, in 1993.

http://chronicle.com Section: The Faculty Volume 51, Issue 43, Page A10