A lawyer who represented the two Rhodes University academics axed after they were found guilty of plagiarism expressed disappointment about the outcome of proceedings.
A lawyer who represented the two Rhodes University academics axed after they were found guilty of plagiarism expressed disappointment about the outcome of proceedings.
The couple were represented by Legal Resources Centre attorney Sarah Sephton together with her colleague Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
In an emailed response to Grocott’s Mail, Sephton expressed her disappointment with the outcome, but would not comment about the process.
Sephton said her clients had indicated they would take the matter further.
On the university’s actions following the findings, Sephton told Grocott's Mail, “I am not aware of what the University may or may not have done other than communicate the outcome of the disciplinary hearing.”
In a statement the university's Vice Chancellor Dr Saleem Badat said In late 2013, Rhodes University had instituted disciplinary proceedings against two academics on the grounds that there was compelling evidence they had committed plagiarism in various academic articles. He said there was evidence that they had also deliberately falsified and fabricated their research findings in a manuscript authored by them and submitted to scientific journals for publication.
In the proceedings the university alleged that the two academics were guilty of the academic transgression of plagiarism and that, in one instance, they perpetrated the dishonesty of fabricating or falsifying experiments upon which research findings were purportedly based.
"We take this opportunity to reiterate Rhodes University’s unequivocal rejection of any kind of intellectual dishonesty," Badat said in the statement.
Grocott’s Mail has accepted the couple’s request not to publish their names in this article.
“After this incident of plagiarism and the whole process, me and my family is going through a very difficult phase,” one of the former Rhodes academics wrote to the newspaper.
The couple said the bad publicity would impact negatively on their mental state.
