War

A “war” has broken out between two ‘heavy weights’ in my department. And it is a war with 3 sides: two warring sides and one playing Switzerland. It was a simple straight-forward case of fraud –plagiarizing other people’s hard work as his own so that a student can get his PhD. Yet, he was not found out (until much later) and much less punished as his mentor is one of the heavy weights. Other faculties would have looked the other way, but not this other ‘heavy weight’ who has decided to pursue the matter. This righteous professor wanted to take this all the way to the education ministry but was persuaded not to as it will tarnish the name of the University and the Department.

Frankly, this shouldn’t have happened in the first place. All PhD students should have the basic, if not the highest, level of ethics and morality, since most PhD holders will be, if not already are, lecturers, and faculty members in higher educational institutions. In my opinion, the University should take away the PhD that was conferred to that student. But because this is an Asian society, punishing one’s student would cause the professor to lose face. The act of punishing the guilty culprit has become a treacherously complex societal and political maneuver, instead of the fundamental simplicity of upholding rules and justice.