Some students at the College of The Bahamas were divided on Tuesday over what fate should befall their college president, Harvard-trained Dr. Rodney Smith, after he admitted that he erred when using the comments of one of his colleagues without providing attribution.
Dr. Smith last week explained that the error came while he was giving one of several recent addresses for commencement related events.
During one address, Dr. Smith said he used three sources from works of writers he felt would have been beneficial to his audience. He alluded to the names of the writers of two of these sources, but failed to name the third, John Sexton, president of New York University.
While the COB president has publicly apologized, some COB students insisted that the apology was inadequate for the offence. Others called for his immediate resignation, while there were some who maintained that he should be given a second chance.
Quinton Lightbourne, president of the College of the Bahamas Union of Students, said although many people are outraged by Dr. Smithﾴs action, his resignation is not warranted.
“I think that it [was] really contradictory because he made a speech on honesty and integrity and such a speech should have honesty and integrity in it,” Mr. Lightbourne said.
“Although I think it is really bad on his behalf, I also think that it could be worked out because he is a role model to most students at the college. If it [were] my choice I would keep him as president of the school.”
Kordero Stcyr, a student at the college, feels that the president should be given the same punishment afforded to students guilty of plagiarism.
“Given the strict requirements in COBﾴs rules on plagiarism for students, if we plagiarize we would be expelled, I would expect that the same rules would be for him,” Mr. Stcyr said. “If he is granted leniency, so should students charged with the same offence.”
Like the COBUS president, Trevor Lightbourn, a law and criminal justice student, believes the presidentﾴs resignation would be too harsh. He said the embarrassment from the whole situation is sufficient punishment.
“I think [his] plagiarizing a quote from a friend is not of such a bad nature that it warrants [such] punishment,” he said. “I think that the lessening of his name from this whole controversy is a huge deal and embarrassing enough. I think that he should just be more closely monitored.”
Other student supporters of Dr. Smith said the issue is a trivial one and not deserving of such attention.
According to Dr. Leon Higgs, Dr. Smithﾴs immediate predecessor, now director of higher education and lifelong learning at the Ministry of Education, positions like that of COB president are constantly under public scrutiny.
“Any public position that [persons] hold that puts them in a national limelight, they are placed under a microscope,” Dr. Higgs said. “I think that this is because the public notices you and every word that you say. So you are constantly under a microscope.”
In offering his apology, Dr. Smith said that any act or behaviour suggestive of plagiarism is a very serious offence in academia and should never be tolerated.
Chairman of COBﾴs board, Franklyn Wilson, said on Tuesday that the board has taken the issue of the presidentﾴs plagiarism under consideration and will offer a response in the near future.
Since the new president came to office last year, the college has made what Dr. Smith has indicated is significant progress toward university status in 2007.
Perez Clarke, The Bahama Journal
