"My colleagues are disturbed. It casts all of us in a bad light," John Church, who teaches health policy and political ethics at the U of A, said Monday.
"It undermines the integrity of the university when these things happen. This isn't just someone from the rank and file."
Students publicly complained on the weekend about Dr. Philip Baker's after-dinner speech to graduates Friday night. They said the speech lifted passages word-for-word from one given by Dr. Atul Gawande at Stanford University in 2010 and later published in The New Yorker.
Some students said they searched the speech on smartphones and were able to follow along as Baker spoke.
Baker apologized Sunday, sending emails to students and his colleagues, admitting the theme and much of the content was the same as Gawande's speech. That speech "inspired me and resonated with my experiences," he wrote.
University officials are investigating and have asked for a copy of the speech he delivered.
Even if Baker only borrowed ideas and the structure — not large chunks verbatim, as the students allege — he could be guilty of plagiarism, Church said.
The only way to judge plagiarism is to compare the two speeches side by side. Church warns his students before every course he teaches, "when in doubt, reference the source."
Gawande declined to comment Monday. His speech addressed the daunting task of being a doctor in a time of radical transition and increasing complexity.
It will take humility, Gawande said.
That theme was "overwhelmingly reinforced," said Baker, in his written apology to students.
As a dean, Baker plays a key role judging students accused of plagiarism.
"These are serious allegations and the University of Alberta will treat them as such," university president Indira Samarasekera said in a written statement Monday.
"Academic integrity is at the heart of this university and must continue to be so. We will undertake our examination within a fair process and with due diligence. As would be the case with any such allegations, a thorough review will be conducted under the procedures of the research and scholarship integrity policy and/or the ethical conduct and safe disclosure policy."
University policy states under no circumstance can a student pass off someone else's words, ideas, images or data as their own work in academic writing or in a presentation. Students who do so can be expelled.
University policy also requires researchers and scholars to recognize all collaborators and source other authors in their work. It states misrepresentation of material facts is considered fraud and the disciplinary action could include termination and prosecution.
News of Baker's apology and speech spread quickly within the U of A.
"Ralph Klein was one thing, but a university dean is quite another," said Jeremy Richards, an earth and atmospheric science professor who blogs regularly about university affairs. He was referring to when the former premier was accused of using someone else's ideas in his own student paper without proper attribution.
"How will I be able to look my students in the eye next fall and tell them that plagiarism is the cardinal sin of academia?" Richards asked in an email. "I hope the university's administration acts quickly and appropriately or it will reflect very badly on our institution."
Outside observers have called for Baker to resign.
"Suppose a medical student stood before Dr. Baker charged with plagiarism? One would rightly expect dean Baker to investigate thoroughly and judge the student accordingly," Dr. Brian Goldman wrote on his blog, Dr. Brian's Side of the Gurney. Goldman is a Toronto-based physician and host of the CBC radio program White Coat, Black Art.
He called for Baker's resignation if the allegations against him are upheld.
"If dean Baker gets off, then the door to plagiarism at the University of Alberta will be flung wide open. 'I'll have what he's having,' future plagiarists will say. Therefore, if these allegations against dean Baker are true, he will have no choice but to resign. The deanery is no place for plagiarists, no (matter) how accomplished they are."
Deb Hammacher, spokeswoman for the university, said the institution won't "act in a hasty manner because of what some members of the public would like us to do. Somebody's reputation is a serious thing."
In an email sent to the Students' Union, the university's vice-president of media relations, Debra Pozega Osburn, assured students that the school is taking the allegations seriously.
"Academic integrity is at the heart of the institution," she wrote.
Emerson Csorba, vice-president academic for the undergraduate Students' Union, said he trusts the university to handle the situation.
It was a hot topic for students on campus for convocation Monday, Csorba said. "This event should not overshadow the 2011 school of medicine graduates, as they have come a long way in earning this degree."
