SHORT STORY: PLAGIARISM AND ME?

At one time I had the pleasure of serving as an adjunct professor in a large urban university.

My course was a practical one about the field of public relations, the skills required by the
practitioner and the relationship between public relations  and journalism.

There were 30 undergraduate students in my class, the majority of whom worked part-time and took classes in night school.

Students were required to write and to demonstrate their understanding of strategic management
by facilitating campaign for a program or company they identified as their "client."

One of my students, in his senior year, produced a strategic plan for an art museum, along
with mock-ups for print products.

I had worked hard with this particular student during the semester. I felt I had seen improvement
with each week that passed and I looked forward to receiving his paper as the term ended.

As I read through his work, I was gratified, almost impressed by how well he handled the assignment until I realized, with a sickening feeling that I had read his words elsewhere, his work was plagiarized. I felt my trust had been betrayed.

When I read what happened with the Donald Trump campaign and the way words were being plagiarized, vulgarized and demonized, I wondered could voters not feel a sickening sense of betrayal as I did so many years ago?

SEE YOU AT THE POLLS!