[Vision2020] So What Kind of Plagiarist is Nick Gier?

[Doug Jones]

So What Kind of Plagiarist is Nick Gier?


In his October 7, 2005 lecture at Idaho Library Association Meeting 
(http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/kidnap.htm), Nick Gier claimed that 
plagiarists typically fall into five categories: the common thief, the 
dope, the total recall guy, the pathological plagiarizer, and the 
digitized recall plagiarizer (combo of thief and dope).

'Why do people capable of doing their own high level work steal in such 
a blatant way?  It is almost as if they want to be caught.' -- Nick 
Gier, "Kidnapping Texts"

Nick Gier also headed up the "Petition Against Plagiarism" which 
"strongly condemned the use of authors' words without proper 
attribution" 
(http://www.tomandrodna.com/notonthepalouse/Documents/Plagiarism_Petition.pdf).

Yet a quick perusal of Nick Gier's University of Idaho hosted website 
(http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/) turned up the following example of 
plagiarism according to his criteria. Interestingly, this was posted 
throughout the time of Gier's signature gathering. 


Check it out for yourself:

In Gier's Upanishads Lecture Notes -- 
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/306/upanlec.htm -- we stumble upon the 
following summary:

________________________________________________________

Traditionally, there are 108 Upanishads (major), which are as follows:

   1. Twelve Major Upanishads:

    Aitareya and the Kauhsitaki which belong to Rig Veda

    Chandogya and Kena to Samaveda

    Taittiriya, Katha, Shvetashvatara, Brihadaranyaka and Isha to Yajur
    Veda

    Prashna, Mundaka and Mandukya to Atharvaveda.
     

   2. Twenty--three samanayayuvedanta Upanishads
   3. Twenty Yoga Upanishads
   4. Seventeen samnyasa Upanishads
   5. Fourteen vaishnava Upanishads: i.e., devoted to the God Vishnu
   6. Fourteen shaiva Upanishads, i.e., devoted to Shiva
   7. Eight shakta Upanishads, i.e., devoted to the Goddess

________________________________________________________


And yet a quick internet search turns up the identical summary from the 
Yogi Ramsuratkumar Bhavan's "An Introduction to the Upanishads" at --
http://sanatan.intnet.mu/ .   Evidently, Gier simply cut and paste the 
unattributed passage, added some words, and didn't even change the font 
color on his own website:


________________________________________________________

Traditionally, there are 108 Upanishads (major), which are as follows:

   1. Twelve major Upanishads,

        * Aitareya and the Kauhsitaki which belong to Rg Veda
        * Chandogya and Kena to Samaveda
        * Taittiriya, Katha, Shvetashvatara, Brhadaranyaka and Isha to
          Yajur Veda
        * Prashna, Mundaka and Mandukya to Atharvaveda.

   2. Twenty--three samanayayuvedanta Upanishads
   3. Twenty Yoga Upanishads
   4. Seventeen samnyasa Upanishads
   5. Fourteen vaishnava Upanishads
   6. Fourteen shaiva Upanishads
   7. Eight shakta Upanishads

________________________________________________________


At least Gier's main obsessions -- Wilson and Wilkins -- had the 
footnotes in the documents but in the wrong place. Gier has no 
attribution at all of this other author's work. As Gier himself says of 
others: "It is inconceivable that" it "is the result of editing errors." 
By his own criteria, then, what kind of a plagiarist is Nick Gier?

Are public lecture notes immune from plagiarizing? Of course not. The 
law still applies. Nick urged us to sign on and "strongly condemn the 
use of author's words without proper attribution."  The same criterion 
applies to him.

This example surfaced on Gier's website after just a cursory search.  
Has Gier lifted more passages from other authors? Let the search begin.
Similarly, for years, doubts have floated concerning suspicious 
footnotes in Gier's  *God, Reason, and the Evangelicals.*  Check them 
out too.

'Why do people capable of doing their own high level work steal in such 
a blatant way?  It is almost as if they want to be caught.' -- Nick Gier

People who wish to register their condemnation of Nick Gier's 
plagiarism, especially any of the sixty-six signers of Gier's much 
touted "Petition Against Plagiarism" can send their vote to  
What_kind_of_plagiarist_is_nick at yahoo.com

After all, according to many, it's just about plagiarism, nothing else.



Doug Jones







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