The University of Georgia Press revoked the short story award of an MSU professor and has begun recalling all publications of the book containing the winning story.
Assistant professor of English Brad Vice received the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction in the fall of 2004 for his short story “Tuscaloosa Knights,” which appeared in his book, “The Bear Bryant Funeral Train.”
A press statement from the UGA Press said that the Tuscaloosa Public Library notified the press the story contained uncredited material from Carl Carmer’s “Stars Fell on Alabama.”
“UGA Press immediately froze stock of ‘The Bear Bryant Funeral Train’ and contacted Brad Vice for his response,” the statement said.
Vice said he was stunned the head of UGA Press called him and told him of the problem.
“I made a mistake due to my ignorance of the principles of fair use,” Vice said in an e-mail.
Vice wove passages of Carmer’s four-page work throughout his 20-page story, naming the story “Tuscaloosa Knights” to pay homage to Carmer’s “Tuscaloosa Nights,” a story in “Stars Fell on Alabama.” Vice used this technique in the way of writers such as T.S. Eliot and Tom Stoppard, he said.
Vice president for research Colin Scanes said the university has begun an inquiry into this issue and a decision will be made after more information is gathered.
“We are following the university policy on academic honesty,” Scanes said.
If the inquiry produces enough information that requires a full investigation, the university will form a committee made up of five professors from both the English department and elsewhere to fully examine the situation, Scanes said.
This issue concerns the university because the university wishes to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity while providing the individual faculty member with due process and the fairest treatment possible, Scanes said.
Shelby Dale, a junior in elementary education and a student in Vice’s American Literature II class, said Vice informed the entire class of the accusations and that his award had been revoked.
The class was surprised, she said, and it seemed strange to her that an English professor would make such a mistake.
“He knows about plagiarism,” Dale said. “He does know the consequences.”
Vice makes the class interesting and he is a good professor, Dale said.
“He tells a lot of real-life stories,” she said. “He talks to us like we’re adults. He makes it interesting.”
Vice said he has been working on “The Bear Bryant Funeral Train” since he was an undergraduate at the University of Alabama. Vice regrets the loss of the book, but he still plans to write.
“Writing is my vocation. One way or another, I will continue to write,” Vice said.
Vice said he has received encouraging letters from dozens of supporters and a display of interest in publishing his work in the future.
“I hope others share their sentiments,” Vice said.