OT: Cassidy and Academic malpractice

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Nov 13, 2007, at 6:04 AM, Amy West wrote:

> Fabulous piece on Cassidy, Grant.
> http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/grantbarrett/humdinger_of_a_bad_irish_scholar/
>
> Having seen Cassidy's signature block at the end of his archived
> posting on "big onion," I'm wondering if there's a much larger
> criticism of Cassidy's work other than, as Grant said, the work being
> "unreliable and not to be trusted." With his position as a professor
> of Irish Studies, should we be holding him to an even *higher*
> standard even though this is not an academic work? If so, would this
> be an instance of not academic fraud but *malpractice*?

i have long wondered the same about Louann Brizendine; you can find
her story by searching on her name on Language Log.  she too is an
academic, with a more prestigious position than Cassidy; from her
website:

Louann Brizendine, M.D. completed her degree in Neurobiology at UC
Berkeley, graduated from Yale School of Medicine and did her
internship and residency at Harvard Medical School. She has also
served on both the faculties of Harvard University and University of
California at San Francisco.
Now at UCSF, Dr. Brizendine pursues active clinical, teaching, writing
and research activities. She founded the UCSF Women's Mood and Hormone
Clinic in 1994 and continues to serve as the clnic's director. The
Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic is a unique clinic designed to assess
and treat women of all ages experiencing disruption of mood,
concentration, energy, anxiety, sexual function and well-being related
to hormonal influences on the brain. Couples having relationship
difficulties due to these hormonal issues are also seen in the clinic.

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while you're on the Language Log site, you might search on "crokus"
for an account of a piece of flagrant charlatanry (not involving
someone with an academic position).

arnold

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