Yell’s Columbus article not plagiarized, says original author

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.

A writer for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus newspaper who was fired after allegations of plagiarism has been cleared by the author of the article he was accused of plagiarizing.

Alexander Marriott's opinion piece, entitled "Christopher Columbus, We Salute You," took the position that Columbus has been unjustly vilified by revisionist historians.

The piece in the Rebel Yell sparked controversy and invited scrutiny, which culminated in one professor, who was not named, accusing Marriott of plagiarizing author Michael Berliner, a writer for the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif.

In an interview with the Sun today, Berliner said Marriott's Oct. 8 column is not the same as his October 2002 piece.

"My determination is that absolutely it was not plagiarism," Berliner said. "He took basically the same position as I did in regards to Columbus. But the writing style didn't bear any similarities to anything that I would write. It's hardly actionable."

Berliner admitted the position that both he and Marriott took -- maintaining that Columbus rightly brought European values and a better culture to America -- is not readily accepted by popular culture.

Berliner said his piece, entitled "Columbus Day's Lesson: Some Cultures Are Better Than Others," has produced more hate mail than any other piece he has written.

Similarly, Marriott's opinion piece prompted vandals to trash hundreds of copies of the Rebel Yell last week. Attached to the bags filled with newspapers were signs saying "Marriott is a racist."

Marriott said Monday in an e-mail to the Sun that he feels vindicated by Berliner's assessment that he did not plagiarize his work.

"The question now is, what will the (Rebel Yell) do?" Marriott said. "I don't know. Should they reinstate me, I will gladly accept and then quit. Should they leave me fired, they will never be able to say why because there is no reason other than some people didn't like what I had to say."

Reinstatement is not being considered, a Yell official said this morning.

"As of now we will not (consider reinstating him)," Renae Judkins, Rebel Yell editor-in-chief said. "The similarities are definitely too close to ignore. If any lawyer saw it, they would definitely think twice before not calling it plagiarism."

Irene Marquette, the opinion editor, disagreed with Judkins, however.

"I don't think he plagiarized anybody," Marquette said. "I think it is a very weak case. I just think people didn't like his ideas. I don't agree with his ideas, but I think he has a right to say them."