Christian Law School Dean Accused of Plagiarizing the Encyclopedia

Trinity Law School dean suspended after plagiarism accusations In the academic world, plagiarism is a cardinal sin—almost a capital offense. But even a high school sophomore knows that if you are going to plagiarize, don’t rip off the encyclopedia; it’s a sure-fire way of getting caught. Still, that’s the accusation being leveled against Winston L. Frost, dean of Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, California. An unnamed source inside the 200-student evangelical school told the provost that Frost’s Trinity Law Review article “The Development of Human Rights Discourse: A History of the Human Rights Movement” was awfully similar to an entry in Encyclopedia Britannica. “Some portions [of Frost’s article] … appear to be much the same as another identified article previously published by a separate author,” said Gregory L. Waybright, president of the Deerfield, Illinois-based Trinity International University, which runs the California campus. Frost, however, denies the allegations and has until Monday to issue a written response. He has been suspended with pay during the investigation. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times did a bit of an analysis of the articles, noting that Britannica begins, “The expression ‘human rights’ is relatively new, having come into everyday parlance only since World War II and the founding of the United Nations in 1945.” Frost, meanwhile, began his article, “The expression ‘human rights’ is a relatively new one, having come into everyday usage after World War II and the founding of the United Nations.”

Judge orders Christian Coalition to stop retaliating against suing employees The racial discrimination lawsuit against the Christian Coalition keeps getting odder and odder. If you haven’t heard, ten African-American employees alleged “Jim Crow-style racial discrimination” at the organization, saying they were barred from using the front door, eating with white employees, and attending public functions like prayer breakfasts and dinners, and kept off the white employees’ insurance program. That initial lawsuit was followed by another, as white employee Trent Barton claimed he was fired for refusing to spy on the black employees. The Coalition claims the discrimination suit “is merely an attempt to generate negative publicity.” Nevertheless, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled Monday that Coalition president Roberta Combs may have broken the law when the workers’ hours were cut back. “The plaintiffs are likely to persuade the jury that there is a causal connection between the filing of their complaint and the adverse action. Accordingly, the court holds that the plaintiffs have established a prima-facie case of unlawful retaliation,” Judge Urbina ruled (PDF |DOC). He ordered the coalition to reinstate three of the remaining workers to a standard work day of 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. However, he refused to order the reinstatement of one of the employees, who is accused of verbally assaulting a a restaurant cashier in the Coalition’s building.

Egyptian Supreme Court orders el-Kosheh retrial Six months after a judge acquitted all the Muslim murder suspects accused of killing 21 Christians in last year’s El-Kosheh massacre, the Egyptian Supreme Court has ordered a retrial. “We think justice can now previal,” Coptic Christian leader Bishop Wissa told the Associated Press.

Related Elsewhere

See our past Weblog updates:

July 31 | 30

July 27 | 25 | 24 | 23

July 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16

July 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9

July 6 | 5 | 3 | 2

June 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25

June 22 | 20 | 19 | 18

June 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11

June 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4