Monica Crowley, a Columbia University Ph.D. and frequent Fox News contributor, has been reported to have plagiarized substantial parts of her book, What The (bleep) Just Happened. Now CNN Money reports it has also been shown she plagiarized substantial portions of her Ph.D. dissertation.
She has been tentatively identified for a top role in the Trump White House as spokesperson for the National Security Council. If careful investigation demonstrates the truth of these charges, her appointment should be withdrawn.
Anybody can accidentally write a sentence someone else has written. However, the odds against writing an entire paragraph someone else wrote are astronomical.
CNN, whose reputation for careful vetting of stories is somewhat shaky, alleges some 40 examples of other people's work appearing in her dissertation without proper attribution. If true, the plagiarism should be a job-killer. Plagiarism is both theft of another's work and falsely asserting one's own eloquence.
On the other hand, it is possible CNN is spreading "fake news." We'll see what transpires.
