2008 Woodie Awards
Attacking Goodwin
Issue date: 3/24/06 Section: Read Letters to the Editor
- Page 1 of 1
Dear Editor,
I wonder how libel law applies to editorials in college newspapers. Your editorial in the March 3 issue attacking Doris Kearns Goodwin was a pretty unfair attack on the reputation of one the United States' leading presidential historians.
It is true, and Goodwin has admitted it was true, that her 1987 book contained passages that were not properly attributed. If I remember correctly, this book was associated with her graduate thesis and she admits she made a mistake.
However, in doing a little research, I find no evidence that she was found to resort to plagiarism in any of her other books. I don't know where you got your information. She was "outed" for her first book by the Weekly Standard that operates on the premise that all liberals have clay feet of some sort.
I don't believe in conservative conspiracies any more than I believe that mad dogs attack their prey in packs because they are engaging in a conspiracy. But I think you should check your facts more thoroughly before you libel a prominent speaker coming to campus.
Aaron Konstam, Retired Professor of Computer Science
I wonder how libel law applies to editorials in college newspapers. Your editorial in the March 3 issue attacking Doris Kearns Goodwin was a pretty unfair attack on the reputation of one the United States' leading presidential historians.
It is true, and Goodwin has admitted it was true, that her 1987 book contained passages that were not properly attributed. If I remember correctly, this book was associated with her graduate thesis and she admits she made a mistake.
However, in doing a little research, I find no evidence that she was found to resort to plagiarism in any of her other books. I don't know where you got your information. She was "outed" for her first book by the Weekly Standard that operates on the premise that all liberals have clay feet of some sort.
I don't believe in conservative conspiracies any more than I believe that mad dogs attack their prey in packs because they are engaging in a conspiracy. But I think you should check your facts more thoroughly before you libel a prominent speaker coming to campus.
Aaron Konstam, Retired Professor of Computer Science