Popular ASU professor Whitaker demoted after plagiarism

Popular Arizona State University faculty member Matthew Whitaker has been demoted after the university found "significant issues with the content" of his recent book.

It is the second plagiarism-related incident in four years involving Whitaker, a former full professor who now is an associate professor.

Whitaker, 44, is a well-known speaker and author who focuses on African-American history, civil rights and racial equality. He declined to comment Friday.

In May, he won a $268,800 contract for his consulting company to provide "cultural consciousness training" for the Phoenix Police Department.

UPDATE: DiCiccio wants city to fire ASU professor after plagiarism

Whitaker, an Arizona native, was an ASU Foundation professor of history and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at ASU.

He was demoted June 26 to an associate professor and co-director of the center, according to an e-mail ASU interim University Provost Mark Searle sent to select faculty this week.

Whitaker will also lose at least $20,000 per year as a result of the demotion.

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His salary will be reduced by $10,000, to $153,530, starting with the new academic year this fall, and moving from director to co-director of the center will reduce his stipend from $20,000 to $10,000, according to ASU.

It is unclear whether he also will lose funding from the ASU Foundation.

"After concerns were raised about his book 'Peace Be Still: Modern Black America from World War II to Barack Obama' an investigation ensued in keeping with ASU policy. Results of that investigation identified significant issues with the content of the aforementioned book," Searle wrote in the e-mail.

Searle's e-mail included a letter from Whitaker in which he admitted to mistakes and apologized to his colleagues.

"My critics have revealed numerous mistakes that I made. It is painful to recognize that I was so careless as to fail to properly paraphrase and cite sources, despite my reverence and respect for the work of others in this field," Whitaker wrote.

"I alerted ASU administration to the fact that the text contained unattributed and poorly paraphrased material. I accept responsibility for these errors and I am working with my publisher to make the appropriate corrections."

Passages lifted verbatim

Whitaker's book has received criticism since early 2014, when a blogger began comparing the book to websites and other texts. AnInside Higher Ed article verified the comparisons.

Among the comparisons are a passage on affirmative action taken nearly word for word from Infoplease.com, and full, verbatim sentences about the television show "The Jeffersons" from the Archive of American Television website. The archive is cited, but the passages are not in quotation marks.

Whitaker declined to respond last year, according to that article.

He was the subject of a similar incident in 2011, when several ASU faculty members accused him of plagiarism. A university investigation determined that Whitaker had not committed "systematic or substantial" plagiarism, but ASU officials said they were concerned about "occasional carelessness."

Earlier this year, the Phoenix City Council approved a $268,800 contract for Whitaker's company, the Whitaker Group, to provide "cultural consciousness training" for the Phoenix Police Department, according to a council report.

The Whitaker Group will provide "instruction that is designed to develop trust, accountability and mutual respect with the community and to enhance officer decision making and safety," and the department has the option to extend the contract for $96,000.

The training started in April and is on a summer hiatus. The department is aware of the incident, and it is "likely discussions on the matter will take place when Chief (Joseph) Yahner returns next week," said Sgt. Vince Lewis, a department spokesman.

A $30 paperback version of "Peace Be Still" is still available for purchase on publisher University of Nebraska Press' website, though the $75 hardcover edition is out of print.

Plagiarism accusations in 2011

In 2011, when Whitaker was promoted from associate professor to full professor, 10 ASU faculty members reported concerns about plagiarism to ASU President Michael Crow.

During the subsequent investigation of Whitaker's work, a committee appointed by the university to examine the matter found paragraphs in a book that had been taken from Wikipedia, and parts of a speech he gave that matched or were similar to several paragraphs in a Washington Post story.

Some of the accusations focused on chapters that Whitaker contributed to an encyclopedia-style textbook for young readers called "African American Icons of Sport: Triumph, Courage, and Excellence." Several paragraphs on boxing icon Muhammad Ali and tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams were taken from Wikipedia.

In a letter to ASU, Whitaker said he gave an outline to a freelance editor to fill in with facts and references, and "unfortunately and unknown to me, the freelance editor inserted verbatim sections from Wikipedia and other online sources without rewording them and without quotations or attribution." He called the published errors "regrettable."

In the letter to ASU during that investigation, Whitaker said his accusers were "out to get me" and that "the question of the motive of my accusers cannot be ignored, including racial bias, resentment and harassment against a black professor promoted to full professor over their objections."

He denied plagiarizing, and the committee concluded in 2012 that he had not committed "systematic or substantial plagiarism" but added that there are "reasons for concern about occasional carelessness in the use of materials and sources and some less than optimal detail in attribution."

The incident shook the ASU history department. One history professor, who chaired a tenure committee, resigned from the committee in protest over the university's decision.