Knifed?

A student's pointed me to reports about the departure from RMIT University of "Criminologist, deputy dean and associate professor Julian Bondy", an academic who among other things has attracted attention for writings on young people and crime (particularly 'knife crime').

Under the heading 'Top RMIT University criminology professor walks out' the Melbourne Herald Sun breathlessly reports that -

ONE of RMIT's highest-profile professors may be stripped of his doctorate after a colleague caught him plagiarising.

Criminologist, deputy dean and associate professor Julian Bondy yesterday confirmed he had left the university "with some regrets".

He quit last Friday and RMIT has already deleted all references to him from its website.

The Hun goes on to report that -

His doctorate of education is in danger of being revoked on the ground his plagiarism means he may have fraudulently obtained it in 2001.

RMIT dean David Hayward yesterday confirmed the case was being referred to an independent committee to determine if Dr Bondy should be stripped of his doctorate.

Prof Hayward said RMIT was taking this course of action because "the university has strong values and high standards".

"Julian resigned on Friday and has personally explained his reasons to many of his long-time colleagues," he said.

Dr Bondy yesterday claimed the plagiarising involved only a small number of paragraphs that were not appropriately referenced.

"It was certainly not what I would describe as a significant volume, not by a long shot," he told the Herald Sun.

The matter sounds very unpleasant. The newspaper indicates that -

Dr Bondy said he decided to resign because he was in such a senior position that continuing would be untenable.

He said he was not aware of who discovered the plagiarism or who reported it to RMIT, "but I have my suspicions".

The Herald Sun has been told a fellow RMIT academic became suspicious about the thesis Dr Bondy did to get his doctorate of education in 2001.

After researching Dr Bondy's background, the academic allegedly discovered parts of Dr Bondy's thesis had been copied from other material.

RMIT questioned Dr Bondy about the allegations last week.

"It may well not have been a sackable offence," Dr Bondy told the Herald Sun yesterday.

"Let's be clear, poor referencing is not a sackable offence. I was not asked to resign. I decided I couldn't do the job that I was doing with this hanging over my head."