Plagiarism Punishment Questioned

Colleagues are rallying to the defense of an eminent Harvard psychiatrist who quit as director of the McLean Hospital after admitting that he had committed plagiarism.

Scholars outside the University say that Harvard acted too hastily by accepting the resignation of Dr. Shervert H. Frazier, 67, on November 23. They say the school ignored Frazier's accomplishments by dismissing him over what one professor called a "trivial" matter.

Frazier's allies--many of them prominent health officials--charge that the University may have overreacted because of an earlier ethics scandal that has attracted widespread publicity.

"Harvard was using [Frazier] as some kind ofsacrificial lamb," said Dr. Alan Mirsky, chief ofthe psychology laboratory at the NationalInstitute of Mental Health.

"It was a shabby way to treat a distinguishedscholar. I don't understand it," Mirsky said.

But University officials have said that as aviolation of academic standards, plagiarism is aserious offense and warrants strong punishment.

Frazier, 67, resigned after a four-monthinvestigation by the Medical School's FacultyConduct Committee found he had plagiarizedmaterial in four articles published between 1966and 1975. The articles did not purport to beoriginal research, and until now, were minorfootnotes in Frazier's career, colleagues said.

Frazier taught at the Medical School from 1972to 1984, when he left to become director of theNational Institute of Mental Health. He returnedto the University in 1986 to become director ofHarvard-affiliated McLean hospital.

While Frazier admitted to the committee that hehad plagiarized information, he said it had beeninadvertent and attributed it to carelessscholarship. Frazier could not be reached forcomment yesterday.

`Just Too Much'

Paul C. Scatena, a medical student at theUniversity of Rochester, uncovered three of thearticles while doing research on a phenomenonknown as phantom limb pain, and notified Harvardin August. The case was first made public Mondayafter Frazier's resignation.

Scatena said yesterday he thought theUniversity had investigated the matter thoroughlyand efficiently. "Harvard's actions were entirelyappropriate. The school did a good investigation,"he said.

Scatena disagreed with Frazier's claim that theplagiarism was completely inadvertent.

"When you examine the actual papers, theevidence is quite clear. I don't think anyonecould look at this and say, 'This was a a seriesof mistakes.' There is just too much," he said.

Dean of the Medical School Daniel C. Tosteson'44 told The New York Times that Harvard's actionswere warranted because of strict University policyregarding plagiarism.

"You can't be a student and plagiarize. Are weto say that it's O.K. for a professor?" Tostesontold The Times from Denmark.

Tosteson did not respond to several telephonecalls from The Crimson yesterday after his returnfrom Boston.

Professor Richard Marius, director of theExpository Writing Program, said that "If Frazierhad been a freshman, he would have been [asked toleave] for a year. It is a very serious offense,not to make some kind of acknowledgement."

"Academic institutions live on mutual trust andcertain known criteria of integrity. The wholeinstitution falls when someone does somethingwhich betokens a lack of integrity," said Marius.

But colleagues charged that Frazier wasunfairly being used as an example. "The wholeaction was out of proportion," said Dr. JohnRomano, a professor of psychiatry at theUniversity of Rochester. "It is a reflection ofHarvard's anxiety over its past record." Romano,who said he has known Frazier for many yearscalled Frazier "a man of integrity."

Tseng Case

Romano and others suggested that Harvard'sactions were in response to criticism last monththat the Medical School was too slow to act inanother issue of scientific ethics.

The Boston Globe reported in October thatformer ophthamology fellow Dr. Scheffer C.G. Tsengmisrepresented results of his research on an eyemedication and profited from the sale of stocks inthe company that manufactures the drug.

Tosteson knew about the misrepresentation atleast four months before The Globe reported thecase, but did not act on the matter, according toa report by Harvard Watch, a student groupaffiliated with consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

`Sloppy'

Frazier referred to papers that do not exist inone article, and cited sources correctly in somepapers but later attributed them incorrectly, saidScatena.

"He really made sloppy mistakes," said Scatena."The more I studied, the less I understood him."

"He may have been set in the mode of `I gottapublish.' It is easy to get caught up in it," saidScatena.

Statistical Errors

There were also statistical errors in Frazier'sarticles, Scatena said. Frazier derivedpercentages from other researchers' dataincorrectly by using too large of a test group, hesaid.

That kind of error can mislead doctorsdangerously by suggesting that a disease is veryrare when in reality it is not, Scatena said.

In addition to the three articles that Scatenauncovered, the Faculty Conduct Committee alsofound an instance of plagiarism in a fourtharticle.

In that article, Frazier cited a sourcecorrectly, but failed to bracket an extractionfrom the text in quotation marks. While Scatenacalled this "clearly wrong," Ramona said that thiserror was "some-what trivial."

While colleagues are so far not calling forHarvard to reinstate Frazier, who was nearingretirement age, they say the incident marks a sadending to a distinguished career.

"Harvard has to stand for academic standards.It has to be seen in light of other things. TheMed School acted strongly to make sure that itheld its integrity," said Dr. Larry I. Benewitz,psychobiology professor at McLean Hospital.

"At the same time, Frazier's years of serviceare overshadowed by this. He was treated ratherharshly. There might have been alternatives."Storm clouds over the McLean Hospital