Cambridge professor who plagiarised student’s work allowed to stay in post
AN IRISH Cambridge university professor who was found to have plagiarised a student’s work in his own academic writing has been allowed to keep his job.
Dr William O’Reilly, who was previously embroiled in a controversy over the handling of a rape investigation at Trinity Hall college of the university, copied parts of a student’s essay almost word for word for a paper published in the Journal of Austrian American History in 2018. But in 2021, the former student came across the paper and complained. He provided evidence that much of the article had been lifted from two of his own essays, complete with handwritten comments of praise from Dr O’Reilly, who is an associate professor in early modern history at Cambridge.
The university’s own policy regards plagiarism as ‘serious or gross misconduct’ that ‘will normally merit dismissal’.
But after a two-year long investigation, a university disciplinary tribunal found Dr O’Reilly’s plagiarism had been ‘the product of negligent acts but was not deliberate’, according to the Financial Times, and he was allowed to remain in his role. The plagiarised article has since been removed from the journal.
The former NUI Galway lecturer was previously at the centre of a separate controversy at the university, which also raised questions about its governance.
In 2020 Dr O’Reilly, who was in charge of student welfare at the university’s Trinity Hall college as acting senior tutor, had assembled a panel to investigate three separate rape allegations against a male student. However, Dr O’Reilly later gave evidence in support of the accused, whom he knew personally, according to news website Tortoise.
Following the 2020 reports, a spokesman for Dr O’Reilly said, ‘Dr O’Reilly believes he acted with integrity and followed appropriate safeguarding advice throughout the various internal processes at Trinity Hall. He rejects any suggestion that he behaved improperly and is appalled that what should have been confidential procedures have been made public’.