The principal of a middle school geared toward writers tried to pass off much of a well-known graduation speech as his work, parents and students told the Daily News.
They say Joseph Anderson, who heads the Clinton School for Writers and Artists in Manhattan, recited – without attribution – portions of an address written by the late writer David Foster Wallace at Friday’s eighth-grade commencement.
The original speech, an edgy and existential look at adult life, was given at Kenyon College in 2005. It hit Time magazine’s Top 10 Commencement Speeches list and was turned into a best-selling book, “This Is Water.”
The pomp and plagiarism earned scorn from some students leaving the school yesterday to start the summer break.
“We’re a school for writers and artists. It’s kind of ironic that he can’t write it,” said eighth-grader Marcus Cook, 14. “If you do that in college and high school, you can get kicked out.”
The topflight small school accepts star students with talent in art or writing, many of whom go on to the best city high schools.
“I think a lot of us could have written amazing speeches,” said eighth-grader Caroline Wallis, 14, who’ll attend LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts next fall. “It’s kind of rude to us. It’s like saying, ‘You’re not important enough to write a speech about.'”
Anderson said it was an “oversight” not to identify Wallace as the author of the “anecdote.”
“I thought I had stated in my commencement speech that I was sharing a story I had read. … It was not my intention to mislead my school community,” he said.
City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said he referred the matter for investigation.
“We do not tolerate plagiarism in our schools,” Walcott said in a statement. “We teach our students the importance of integrity in their work, so to have this allegation about one of our principals is very concerning.”
Some parents said critics were being too hard on Anderson, who isn’t expected to return to the school next year.
Jake Daehler, father of an eighth-grader, said only one parent at graduation recognized the original address.
“Do you imagine it’s fun being Joe even when angry mobs aren’t queuing up to tar and feather him? I don’t,” Daehler wrote.
Jaimie Cloud, mom of eighth-grader Griffin, 14, called it an “unfortunate event.”
“Kids are looking to us to set the example. If a school’s principal can’t set the example …, it reminds all of us it’s all our responsibility.”
