Plagiarism prong has arrove (McAdoo plagiarism uncovered by Pack Pride hooligans)

The recent news that former UNC-CH football player Michael McAdoo was suing the NCAA and UNC-CH (covered here by WRAL) led to one of McAdoo’s papers becoming public.  It took less than one afternoon for McAdoo’s apparent plagiarism in this paper to be discovered by UNC-CH’s least favorite group of message board yahoos.  The plagiarism story has now been picked up by several outlets, first by Sports by Brooks, and later by Sports Illustrated and the DTH.  The Sports by Brooks piece is especially good in that it goes through the material in detail, proving that much of the material in the paper was cut and pasted.

Also, I am not sure who put together this pdf, but it goes through the first few pages of the McAdoo Frankenpaper and shows,using a clear format and in detail, how much material was lifted and exactly from where it was lifted.  For example, it explains the actual source behind such dubious sentences as:

These winds have been blowing with metronome regularity for eons, carrying dhows laden with cargo.

McAdoo (in glasses) pictured above at a Washington, D.C. 2011 post-draft party with Quinn and Coples.

Alert readers will remember that McAdoo was ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA for his involvment with both the tutor and agent prongs.  You can read this past SFN entry for a recap.  Readers who want a full understanding of the McAdoo saga should explore this pdf document.  It contains transcripts, exhibits, and other items connected with McAdoo’s eligibility appeal.  For example, on page 73 of that document, you can read a transcript of the NCAA appeal hearing, in which McAdoo says:

Since I arrove at the University of North Carolina, I have had a lot of support as a student athlete and have trusted a lot of people to help me be successful.

Yes, that’s right, he said “arrove.”  All SFN readers are hereby officially ordered to work the word “arrove” into the next conversation you have with any UNC fan who has ever taunted you with the word “amphibious.”

Regarding the paper itself, if you want to, you can read it beginning on page 127 of that same pdf.  This quote from the DTH article does a good job of explaining the nature of the Frankenpaper if you don’t care and/or don’t have time to read through it and its sources in detail (emphasis mine):

McAdoo’s paper uses three consecutive paragraphs from a Tanzanian journalist’s blog post “Know the history of Swahili language and its original culture.” The paragraphs are nearly word for word from the blog post, which was written less than two months before McAdoo’s paper was turned in on July 13, 2009.

The paper also takes two paragraphs from an article entitled “The Brief History of the Swahili Language,” which was found on the Zanzinet Forum.

There is no mention of the blog post anywhere in the paper, including the works cited page that Wiley was found to have done for him.

McAdoo’s paper takes a substantial amount of work from Charles Cornelius’ “The History of the East African Coast.” McAdoo cites some usage of the book but claims several paragraphs as his own throughout his paper. On page four of his paper, McAdoo uses an entire paragraph that is nearly verbatim from the second page of the book’s introduction.

According to the Instrument of Student Judicial Governance, Section II.B.1, plagiarism is defined as “the deliberate or reckless representation of another’s words,thoughts, or ideas as one’s own without attribution in connection with submission of academic work, whether graded or otherwise.”

McAdoo’s professor Dr. Julius Nyang’oro is out of the country and did not immediately respond to emails.

It will be interesting to see how McAdoo’s lawyers spin the previous claim that the Frankenpaper was McAdoo’s original work and that he only cheated by getting help with cite forms.  Also from the DTH:

“This work reflects his ideas exclusively,” said Steve Keady from UNC’s legal counsel during McAdoo’s appeals teleconference with the NCAA. “It is not a rip off. This really is his work.”

and

“We are arguing that this was Michael McAdoo’s work, even the citations were his work. They were not formatted correctly, however,” UNC athletic director Dick Baddour said during the appeals teleconference.

I guess by “his work,” they mean that McAdoo himself hit control-c and control-v repeatedly.   Just for fun, let’s take a roll call of all the adults connected to UNC-CH who had access to this paper.  I am sure I have missed some, but included in the group must be:

UNC Honor Court? Check.
AD? Check
Tutor(s) paid for by the University and/or under the private employ of the Head Coach? Check
McAdoo’s UNC-grad Attorneys? Check
UNC Professor? Check

You are telling me that NONE of those UNC-CH-connected adults recognized McAdoo’s Frankenpaper for what it was?  They really supposedly believed that a person who would use “arrove” in a formal setting could also write things such as “These winds have been blowing with metronome regularity for eons…”???

General UNC Scandal

100 Responses to Plagiarism prong has arrove (McAdoo plagiarism uncovered by Pack Pride hooligans)

  1. TruthBKnown Returns 07/10/2011 at 3:15 PM #

    Isn’t it possible that a university could take away the degree of a tutor that cheated for multiple students (and/or student-athletes) over a span of multiple semesters? Wouldn’t that be prudent for Carolina to do?

    Unless they know that turning against this tutor would result in her opening her mouth about what she knows…….

  2. Virginia Wolf 07/10/2011 at 3:43 PM #

    Okay! West Virginia proposes a 2 year probation and the NCAA accepts that. If W. Virginia gets 2 years, the UNX cheats, deserve the death penalty!!! They have even mentioned self imposed sanctions. Still trying to hide everything. Oh yeah, “everyone is doing it!” Get a grip!!!

  3. MattN 07/10/2011 at 5:39 PM #

    I have a theory. McAdoo had no idea the paper was copied from various websites because he didn’t actually write any of it, the original tutor did. So he trumpets the paper as his, knowing the tutor had been programmed to not say anything and has no idea what’s about to happen when that paper is put in the lawsuit and becomes public info. He thinks the tutor came up with all of it, won’t say anything, and is covered. As stupid as he is, I gotta think that if HE actually did the cut/paste, certainly he would have known that anyone could figure it out very quickly.

    Unless he is just SO STUPID he does not understand that is plagiarism or even what plagiarism means.

  4. wolfpacker 07/10/2011 at 6:03 PM #

    Are the glasses real, or are they an attempt to make him ‘look’ smart?

    He can just tell the NCAA the truth, that when he arrove at unx, that was how he was told to write his papers.

    I have arrove at the solution for McAdoo. He should SUE unx for failure to edumicate him. If there was ever a failure by a university, they are proving their incompetence here. Just let them continue…their student athletic system is a total fraud. Push the players through the system, give them good enough grades and ‘let’ them graduate.

    OH, MR. FRIDAY, where are you NOW? How amazing that 20 years ago, you were wanting to get to the root of the problem and now, you are hiding?

    The PEOPLE of the STATE OF North Carolina DESERVE ANSWERS!

    There is OBVIOUSLY more to this than has been revealed, and you really want us to move on?

  5. TruthBKnown Returns 07/10/2011 at 6:13 PM #

    Unless he is just SO STUPID he does not understand that is plagiarism or even what plagiarism means.

    He used the word “arrove”.

    I think that should clear things up.

  6. teal7677 07/10/2011 at 6:41 PM #

    Does everyone understand that he was failed from this class?

  7. Old MacDonald 07/10/2011 at 6:46 PM #

    ^ Yeah but he also used “metronome regularity,” and Dickie and the UNC lawyer said it was all his work. So he must be smart.

  8. teal7677 07/10/2011 at 6:51 PM #

    I am pretty surprised that so many people on here are focused on what Carolina is doing.

    I am sure there are some good things to research about state players.

    How about that great crowd of student athletes for the pack last summer that had drugs,steriods and pictures of maraj plants growing.

    I know TOB got them straight I am sure. Did any of them even serve a suspension? It is amazing how quickly that stuff gets forgotten.

  9. TruthBKnown Returns 07/10/2011 at 7:19 PM #

    ^ You’re right. So silly of me to have missed that. 😉

  10. Virginia Wolf 07/10/2011 at 9:57 PM #

    He is so smart, he doesn’t even know he has done anything wrong. “The Carolina Way!”

  11. TeufelWolf 07/11/2011 at 1:35 AM #

    He’s probably too stupid/crooked to realize what plagiarism is. He’s one of those people that has been handed grades all his life (once might say with metronome regularity); even grades in high school. He’s probably been cheating so long and given so much free sh!t that he honestly might not realize that he plagiarized. He might things cutting and pasting just a few paragraphs is alright.

    These athletes get so used to special treatment that don’t realize what is right and wrong…like Reggie Bush saying he didn’t receive any improper benefits and then in the same breath saying that collegiate athletes SHOULD get paid. I’m sorry, what? Did you just say that out loud, you moron?

    Whatever happened, it’s obvious that McAdoo cheated and the school chose to turn a blind eye. Either the tutor wrote it for him (and plagiarized) or he plagiarized. I just hope he sues her because she won’t give him his money back for the paper.

  12. Alpha Wolf 07/11/2011 at 9:44 AM #

    All this to win eight games and lose to your non-rival three straight years…

    I’d say I was surprised at this latest turn of events, but the news about Chief Crooked Tongue’s braves (Cut, Paste and Copy) arroves with metronomic regularity.

    I’d even say that Bob Winston would love to be that regular. Poor guy must be puckered up so tight he is making diamonds.

  13. lawful 07/11/2011 at 11:02 AM #

    Aerowolf: No, it’s only a “complaint” at this point.

    On a side note, much as he can’t write his own material, it appears he can not create his own persona…isn’t that Mars Blackman?

  14. logarithm 07/11/2011 at 3:02 PM #

    I’m hoping this is a sign of things to come for the rest of the summer and into the season. I hope more former players file suit against the school and the NCAA. I hope Jennifer Wiley sues the school. I hope John Blake sues the school and the NCAA. I hope Gary Wichard’s successor’s at Pro Tect sues UNC. I hope more people get fired and sue the school and the NCAA. It’s like a gang of people dug themselves into a deep hole and everyone’s still digging, trying to bury everyone else.

  15. kbrown 07/11/2011 at 4:02 PM #

    Did anybody read the article in the Triangle Business Journal about the retired UNC Professor losing his email because he set up a non-profit with the email address and somebody wanted to know how it was affiliated with UNC. The whole issue is whether or not it violated his first amendment and here is UNCheat’s response: It is not a First Amendment issue but rather the ongoing dispute is distracting others at UNCheat from their responsibilities and therefore the decision was made to terminate the email account. Probably a poor job paraphrasing due to the fact that I am better at plagiarism but my point is: How the hell is Butch Davis’ mess not distracting?

  16. Virginia Wolf 07/11/2011 at 4:15 PM #

    Butch is responsible and Butch must go!!! He’ll be gone before the 2011 F.B. season begins.

  17. JeremyH 07/11/2011 at 5:17 PM #

    On the contrary, I think Butch must stay. He provides plenty of comedic material at a time when sporting news has died down. And he has finally revealed to everyone what the “Carolina Way” is really all about. (check the archives.)

  18. Pack78 07/11/2011 at 5:56 PM #

    Bet Butchie stays through the hearing in October until penalties are levied; I remember reading on PP months ago that the holes and the NCAA were ‘on completely different wavelengths’ as far as the seriousness of these violations at unx. Reading Idiot Central today, our old friend Professor Smith is opining that the NCAA has dramatically overreached with their suspension of McAdoo, and, as we speak, is probably looking for a way to gracefully back out of the lawsuit! He hopes that it will proceed so that everyone will see just how unfair the NCAA is…the holes should be involved in a remake of the film ‘Clueless’…

  19. highstick 07/11/2011 at 7:03 PM #

    There’s not a character in “Clueless” that is as “clueless” as most Tarhole fans…

    Maybe “Dumb and Dumber”???

  20. teal7677 07/12/2011 at 1:36 PM #

    This corwd is asking for the NCAA to ban him for life for stuff he hasn’t been found responsible for. The honor court found him not guilty and could not prosecute another charge.

    This would be just like Bryan, vermiglio, sweezey and kuhn being ruled permanently ineligible for all their drugs last summer. They were not found guilty in court. They for sure had the drugs, but it wasn’t admissible in court. How is that different that punishing Mcadoo for soemthing he was found not guilty of?

  21. TruthBKnown Returns 07/12/2011 at 3:33 PM #

    I think McAdoo actually has a case, based on the info they used as a basis for his suspension.

    But now that we know the paper was plagiarized 35% (at a minimum) and possibly the whole thing except for just a few words, then that changes everything. I think that level of plagiarism could get him suspended.

    So while he MAY have a case (based on the previous info), the new info may be enough to justify him remaining suspended.

  22. teal7677 07/12/2011 at 4:01 PM #

    TBKR

    How can the ncaa find an offense if the member institution does not? Why don’t they suspend who breaks any kind of law. Is the NCAA going to have a hearing on the paper?

  23. TruthBKnown Returns 07/12/2011 at 4:13 PM #

    teal, you’re right. The NCAA could not be expected to find this. But the cat is NOW out of the bag. So they should know about this in time for the trial/hearing.

    I think he has a case, based on OLD information.

    But based on NEW information (that his report was plagiarized beyond belief!) will that not be enough for them to KEEP him suspended?

    I guess this is all up to the court system to decide.

    I believe this is another reason why an INDEPENDENT investigation is warranted. They either swept this under the table, or missed something that should EASILY have been caught. How could the person that GRADED that paper not have known it was plagiarized? They’re either incompetent or intentionally sweeping things under the rug. Therefore an independent investigation would be justified.

    If only someone in the media or BOG would discuss these things. The silence is deafening and stunning at the same time. So much of this feels like a pro-UNX conspiracy, and it still amazes me sometimes.

  24. IamGumbyDammit 07/12/2011 at 9:51 PM #

    teal, like a typical Hole you dare compare the UNX “Honor” Court to a REAL court of law. If anything, the plagarism proves what a sham the system is at UNX, the “Honor” Court included. If a member institution fails in its control over the institution (yes, LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL) then the NCAA SHOULD step in and take matters in its own hands.

  25. camel77 07/13/2011 at 12:32 AM #

    teal7677

    I agree with IamGumbyDammit. The Honor Court is not a real judicial system. It is just a bunch of college kids and do you think that they would do anything that would hurt their precious university. That is not “The Carolina Way”.

    UNC hasn’t cooperated with the NCAA until after the fact. Having to go to court to get the parking ticket info and phone records is not cooperating and then do not give them all the phone records.

    Another thing for your coach to use the I did’t know Blake and Wiley where doing what they were doing, show me a lack of control somewhere or he isn’t doing his whole job.

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