I was taken by surprise Tuesday morning when I read the lead article in The Dakota Student, “Professors cleared of plagiarism accusations.” I was unaware that someone had made a charge against them.

As one teaching students to access their intuition and to feel into the truth of things, my intuition told me that the charge against them was “untrue” before I read the entire article. Further, based on my personal observation of the three — Ken Hansen, Robert Dosch and the Department Chair, Steve Carlson — I am convinced that they are tremendous professionals whose compasses point “true north.”

Tuesday afternoon, I asked my students, “What are the ethical lessons here?” The first troubling issue is that someone seemingly went to a lot of trouble to link the professors to unethical behavior. The ethical approach would have been to confront them with what was thought to be evidence of plagiarism. Does it strike you that secrecy seems to be a national problem at the moment?

A second ethical concern here is that The CPA Journal failed in its ethical responsibility. They not only edited the articles, which I find unbelievable, but they apparently eliminated the citations which the complainant would have had. Of course, had the complainant confronted the three professors, the issue would have apparently been quickly clarified and the three would not have had to go through months of emotional unrest. Let’s take note whether The CPA Journal steps up and acknowledges their errors.

My final concern is what happens next. It is the university’s responsibility to protect its people. Let’s all watch closely to see if the banner of the three professors is now carried by the provost and, perhaps, even by our president.

Michael Hendrickson

Adjunct Professor 

Ethics and Professional 

Conduct for Accountants