« A Brief Reprise on the "Politically Incorrect Guide to American History" | Main | How Is Google Like An Elephant? »
June 15, 2005
How many commencement speakers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
(This is a slightly edited version of a comment I left earlier this morning at the Volokh Conspiracy.)
Eugene Volokh thinks that Dean Bryan Le Beau's copying of the opening of a commencement speech by Russell Baker is not "particularly bad" because it's just a "borrowed witticism."
I agree with Eugene's point, at least in principle and in isolation. There's no problem with starting off a commencement speech with someone else's joke; I'm sure it happens all the time. (The Le Beau incident may not be such a case on the facts, though; more on that below.)
But Eugene's point strikes me as missing the bigger picture.
Dean Le Beau's apparent copying from Russell Baker at the start of the speech precedes his near-verbatim copying of Cornel West for the guts of the speech. When challenged on the copying of Cornel West, Dean Le Beau issued a statement explaining it (and maintaining that it was not plagiarism) without mentioning that he took the opening of his speech essentially verbatim from a speech by Russell Baker. It was only through an additional google search that the copying of Baker was revealed. And it turns out that both speeches (Baker's and West's) are to be found on the same website that compiles great commencement addresses. In short, the copying of Baker, to my eyes, seriously undermines the credibility of the defense of the copying of West. (And it's not just my eyes: see Ralph Luker's comments at the history blog Cliopatria.)
Now, as to Eugene's point about the permissibility of borrowing speech-starting witticisms without attribution: is this really such a case? Consider the two passages:
Russell Baker, Connecticut College, May 1995:
"In a sensible world I would now congratulate the Class of 1995 and sit down without further comment. I am sure the Class of 1995 wishes I would do so. Unfortunately for the Class of 1995 we do not live in a sensible world.
"We live in a world far more slavish in its obedience to ancient custom than we like to admit. And ancient commencement-day custom demands that somebody stand up here and harangue the poor graduates until they beg for mercy. The ancient rule has been: make them suffer."
Bryan Le Beau, UMKC, December 2003:
"In a sensible world, and it I were a sensible person, I would simply stop right here and sit down without further comment. And you would probably prefer I do so. Unfortunately, we do not live in a sensible world. Instead, we live in a world far more slavish in its obedience to ancient custom than we like to admit, and I have been asked to contribute to that slavish custom. Commencement-day custom – dating to the 12th century, as Chancellor Gilliland just noted -- demands that someone stand up here and harangue you poor graduates until you beg for mercy. The ancient rule has been: Wear a funny hat, and make them suffer."
There's no problem with a rule that says you don't have to attribute jokes. ("How many college graduates does it take to screw in a light bulb?" and that sort of thing.) But this isn't a joke (as Eugene notes by calling it a "witticism"). It is instead a fairly elaborate introduction designed to note the specific occasion and get people smiling. I see a difference between using the punchline without attribution (the ancient rule for commencement speakers has been to "make them suffer") and using the whole opening, including its rather unusual word choices ("harangue," "slavish in its obedience to ancient custom," "beg for mercy"). The latter is not just treating a joke as community property. To my eye, it's unattributed copying.
Posted by Eric at June 15, 2005 8:16 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.isthatlegal.org/cgi-bin/mt33/mt-tb.cgi/212.
Comments
It is instead a fairly elaborate introduction designed to note the specific occasion and get people smiling.
That sounds like a joke to me. Or did he just want people to smile and not laugh?
-Dave
Posted by: Dave at June 15, 2005 11:50 AM
I basically agree with your analysis: jokes are a different case, but this does cross the line from a "joke" to a "bit" or "routine" and is technically plagiarism. Still it seems if not exactly in a grey area, at least very close to one. What if LeBeau had opened his speech like this:
"As I look out over your happy shining faces, I see a class filled with hopes and dreams, and I know your greatest dream is this: that I just sit down and not subject you to a long, boring speech. As much as I hate to crush the dreams of young graduates, I cannot do as you wish. Graduation is an important milestone in your lives. Such solemn occasions demand that we follow ancient custom, and the ancient rule is this: make them suffer."
This is still clearly "borrowing." If it were an academic work, it would probably qualify as plagiarism, but as a bit of humor, I don't think it would. Even LeBeau's more direct borrowing of the bit hardly seems like a serious matter. It's mostly just a footnote to his plagiarism of West's work.
I don't even think my discovery really undermines the credibility of LeBeau's defense of his "borrowing" from West because that defense doesn't have much credibility to begin with. The speech he gave was not a LeBeau speech with some quotes from Cornel West. It was a West speech with some modifications by Bryan LeBeau. A comparison of the two texts reveals a nearly exact paragraph-by-paragraph correspondence. LeBeau sometimes omits a few sentences of West's speech or inserts a few sentences of his own, but after each digression, he returns again to take up West's thread.
Of course commencement speechs all tend to follow a few basic forms, and the form of this one -- talk about the challenges the graduates face, give them suggestions for meeting those challenges, and close with some inspiring words of encouragement -- is pretty standard. LeBeau's loyalty to West's form, though, goes well beyond adherence to that basic structure. There's no doubt in my mind that he was working from the full text of West's speech.
I think LeBeau's plagiarism of West's speech must be taken seriously by the university if their code of ethics is not to become a hollow joke, but I don't think it seriously reflects on his ethics as a scholar. It seems more a reflection of his fears and insecurities about giving a speech in front of such a large audience. It doesn't suggest he regularly plagiarizes in other contexts; if anything it suggests the opposite. It seems unlikely that an experienced plagiarist would have done it as clumsily as he did here.
None of this excuses LeBeau. As an academic, he has a responsibility to avoid plagiarism in any circumstances, and as dean, he has a particular obligation to exemplify the ethical standards demanded of his students. Still, it would be a shame if this incident got him fired or caused any real damage to his professional reputation.
Posted by: Beth at June 15, 2005 2:10 PM
One more thought. It's not just the humor that makes jokes fair game. Anecdotes seem to fall into the same category. I'm not quite sure where to draw the line between anecdotes and stories or between jokes and routines (maybe Sally Greene could help us out here), but it seems clear that there is one.
Posted by: Beth at June 15, 2005 2:34 PM
I think there need to be a blanket change to the ethics rules for commencement addresses.
No-one listens to them, no-one wants to waste the time preparing them, and everyone gets caught nicking schtick (or as they call it in Orange County, booking the Cooks).
Even the original West speech was pretty much phoned in; early 90's was old West, long before he jumped the shark.
Why not pass legislation declaring that all commencement speeches are to in the public domain and containing the contents of more than one ethnicity, unless preceded by an explicit declaration to the contrary.
Sure that may not strictly jibe with Berne, but aren't they in the same country as Geneva? What they gonna do - send in the navy?
Posted by: Simon Spero at June 16, 2005 9:35 AM