Best-selling author and historian Stephen Ambrose admitted to doing something college students could face disciplinary action for - plagiarism.
Ambrose, 65, apologized in early January for taking phrases and sentences from the work of other authors and inserting them in at least three of his own published pieces, “The Wild Blue,” “Citizen Soldiers” and “Nixon: Ruin and Recovery 1973-1990.”
Ambrose is the founder and president of the National D-Day Museum of New Orleans and is an emeritus faculty member at the University of New Orleans.
Maj. Paul Hovey, instructor of military science at MSU, uses Ambrose’s work in MS 201B.
The novel, “Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944”, is one of more than 20 books Ambrose has published during the past 30 years.
“I was pretty surprised,” Hovey said. “It’s production-line writing. A lot of people do the research and he just does the finishing touches on it.
“From my perspective, even if you plagiarize, it doesn’t change the events that transpired.”
Hovey said he chose Ambrose’s novel because it relates directly to his class.
“I teach a basic leadership class, the book exudes everything about leadership and training that I want to teach the cadets,” he said. “He’s a great storyteller, but leaves a lot of details out.”
At MSU, plagiarism can result in no credit for the assignment or the course, according to the Integrity of Scholarship and Grades All-University Policy.
A case can be referred to the University Academic Integrity Review Board, depending on severity, for potential disciplinary action such as a warning, warning probation, disciplinary probation or suspension.
History Professor Charles Radding said he is familiar with the recent developments surrounding Ambrose.
“Plagiarism among students definitely exists, especially with papers they can get from the Internet,” he said. “It is easily accessible. They also plagiarize other students.”
History sophomore Evan Isaac has read a few of Ambrose’s novels, including those the historian was accused of plagiarizing.
“I’m pretty upset about what happened,” he said. “But he’s got scores of people who work for him now. I think being a historian is kind of being a storyteller. I will still read his work. It’s still a great story.”
But author Donald Burgett said he doesn’t consider Ambrose to be a historian.
Burgett, a Howell resident who has published four novels about World War II, used his first-hand accounts of the war in his work.
“He has a lot of books out, but a lot of his things aren’t the way they happened - not everything is correct,” he said. “I was there in the battles, that’s why I know what happened and what didn’t.”
