Op Ed Plagiarism Costs Education Director His Job

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An apparently plagiarized opinion piece in the January 5 issue of the Toronto Star touched off a feeding frenzy by the Canadian Press that cost Chris Spence, the Toronto District School Board's director of education, his job, according to the iMediaEthics.org blog.

After a reader tipped off public editor Kathy English, the Star posted a Note atop Spence's op-ed that read:

"This Opinion article includes substantial unattributed material from several other sources. Those sources include the 'Coaching Excellence' blog of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching, the blog, Pro Sport Chick, an online encyclopedia and a 1989 Op-Ed article in the New York Times written by Anita L. Defrantz, then president of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles and a current member of the International Olympic Committee. Spence has acknowledged  that he plagiarized parts of his article and apologized to the Star and its readers."

Spence's contrite mea culpa failed to calm the waters, however, as the National Post uncovered what it claimed were other instances of plagiarism, and The Globe and Mail raised doubts concerning Spence's dissertation, alleging it contained unattributed material. Spence has resigned from the School Board post, iMediaEthics reported.