Orange High graduation remarks plagiarized
HILLSBOROUGH -- Orange County school board Chairman Keith Cook plagiarized much of the speech he delivered at Orange High School's 2004 graduation ceremony.
The speech, which incorporated lessons from the movie "Titanic," was virtually identical to a 1998 speech given by Donna Shalala, then U.S. secretary of health and human services. Cook did not attribute his remarks, made Friday night at UNC's Smith Center, to Shalala.
When asked Tuesday by a Herald-Sun reporter where he got his speech, Cook said, "I wrote that."
But later, after The Herald-Sun e-mailed him a Web site link to Shalala's speech, Cook called back and acknowledged he had gotten his remarks off the Internet. He said he downloaded them from a Web site he found after typing "graduation speeches" into the Google search engine.
Cook said he didn't know the speech came from Shalala. He said he thought it was a "generic speech."
"I would've never done it, if I knew," Cook said. "It didn't have a name on it. I did not know this thing was from Donna Shalala."
School board member Dana Thompson said she was "disappointed" by Cook's use of the speech.
"I think it's important for education leaders to set a good example and not plagiarize," she said. "He very much presented [the remarks] as his own."
Copying a speech without attribution is an offense that could get an Orange High student suspended. The county schools' code of conduct defines plagiarism as "the copying of wording, language, thought, idea of another and representing it as one's own work." Under the code, any plagiarized work receives a grade of zero, and the student who plagiarizes can receive a short-term suspension.
According to a transcript of Shalala's speech posted on the Web site of the Department of Health and Human Services, she originally delivered it at a high school commencement in Madison, Wis. The speech outlined 10 "deep thoughts" from "Titanic." Cook's speech outlined seven of those "deep thoughts," all of them nearly identical to what Shalala said.
Both speeches included, "Be prepared. If you book a cruise on an unsinkable ship, pack a wet suit."
Cook and Shalala also both said, "Dress for success. Jack was lucky he found a tux. As Mark Twain said, 'Clothes make the man. Naked people have little influence in our society.'"
Both speeches also have the same introduction and conclusion, and told students to "make each day count."
"I can still recall my own high school graduation," Cook said. "The relief. The hugging. The tears of joy. And that was just the teachers."
Shalala said the same thing, according to the transcript.
Orange High valedictorian Carynne McIver, who also spoke at the graduation ceremony, said she heard Tuesday that Cook's speech wasn't his own. She said she had assumed he had written it himself -- and would have been satisfied if he had given credit to Shalala.
"I wasn't offended, but disappointed," said McIver. "He didn't even take the time to write a speech for us. It's an honor to speak at graduation."
One of Cook's colleagues on the school board, Libbie Hough, seemed stunned when informed of the plagiarism.
"If this is indeed true, then it's very unfortunate," said Hough. "You hate to hear something like that."
But board member Delores Simpson was reluctant to criticize Cook.
"I'm sure he didn't mean any harm," she said. "He had his reasons, and he's the only one who knows why he chose that particular speech."
Cook said he didn't think, at the time, he needed to attribute his graduation comments. He said he added his own touches to the speech, including asking students to remember Memorial Day.
And the "Titanic" speech, Cook said, rang true because he had just watched the movie the previous week.
"I didn't think I was doing any harm," Cook said. "It's probably too late to atone for it."
But the executive director of the Duke-based Center for Academic Integrity said plagiarism is always harmful.
"If it's [true], then it's very inappropriate," said Diane Waryold. "Anyone in a leadership position should be modeling appropriate behavior when it comes to academic honesty."
Cook noted that he attributed remarks he made earlier that day -- during Cedar Ridge High School's graduation -- to author Robert Fulghum.
"I had no idea [the Shalala speech] belonged to someone else," he said.
Cook is up for election July 20. There are five candidates vying for three open seats on the school board.
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