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WEST LIBERTY -- West Liberty University's Board of Governors is standing by the university's president following accusations of plagiarism made against him by an anonymous group of university faculty and students.
According to an article in Inside Higher Ed, the anonymous group claimed that WLU President W. Franklin Evans has plagiarized in various past speeches.
They claim he lifted quotes and paragraphs from other published works and did not cite those works during his speeches.
The WLU Board of Governors has acknowledged the claims made against Evans.
"It has come to my and the Board Governors' attention that Dr. W. Franklin Evans, president of West Liberty University, did not give proper attribution to the original authors in his recent speeches," said Rich Lucas, chairman of the board of governors, in a statement provided by the university.
"The board believes that this was an oversight by Dr. Evans. Dr. Evans has apologized to the faculty and has vowed that in the future he will be more diligent in giving proper attribution when drafting his speeches.
"There are many important issues that all universities across the country are facing at this time. The WLU Board of Governors believes Dr. Evans is the right person to lead and grow WLU now and for our future."
Evans, who became WLU's president in January, said Tuesday that he sent a letter of apology to the university and he spoke in person with the WLU Faculty Senate's executive committee.
He added he was not aware of any students making anonymous accusations as mentioned in the Inside Higher Ed news report.
"I am the first to say for the convocation speech that I did share some information and I did not give credit. ... It was an oversight and negligent and I apologize for it," he said. "All I can say is that it was never my intent to give the impression that those were exactly my words. I neglected to identify where it came from and for that I am sorry. I will make sure it will not happen again."
Evans said not citing his sources during his speech was an oversight, and that he did not apply the same care as he would with a scholarly paper. He admits that he should have.
When asked if students who are accused of plagiarism should be given a second chance, Evans said it would be "hard for me to estimate." But he added that the school has a handbook that addresses such student matters. He noted if a student submits something for credit in a class, the university would adhere to its handbook rules.
A letter regarding the claims was sent to The Intelligencer by a faculty member who asked to remain anonymous. It talks about the WLU faculty senate formally accusing Evans of plagiarism.
"He is accused of plagiarizing parts of three speeches in 2021, all delivered while President of WLU. The most recent speech was delivered at the Fall 2021 WLU Freshman convocation. A letter along with evidence of the plagiarized works, time stamped to the video recorded speeches, was sent to Evans by representatives of the faculty senate.
The letter encouraged members to share the information with their constituents. Evans sent a memo denying the allegation, according to the letter.
"Video of the convocation speech has since been altered with text boxes that attribute some plagiarized parts of the speech, but not all, to the works of authors'. Investigation of the plagiarism continues at this time.
"Plagiarism is the intentional use of published material as one's own, without attributing the work to the author. It is the most egregious of all acts of academic and scholarly dishonesty."
Evans added that he appreciates the support shown to him by the board of governors and some faculty members.