Did Warren plagiarize recipes?

Did Elizabeth Warren Plagiarize Her 'Pow Wow Chow' Recipes?

By Michael Patrick LeahyThe credibility of Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren took another hit today as Boston radio talk show host Howie Carr released evidence that appears to confirm Ms. Warren may have plagiarized at least three of the five recipes she submitted to the 1984 Pow Wow Chow cookbook edited by her cousin Candy Rowsey.

Two of the possibly plagiarized recipes, said in the Pow Wow Chow cookbook to have been passed down through generations of Oklahoma Native American members of the Cherokee tribe, are described in a New York Times News Service story as originating at Le Pavilion, a fabulously expensive French restaurant in Manhattan. The dishes were said to be particular favorites of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Cole Porter.

The two recipes, "Cold Omelets with Crab Meat" and "Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing," appear in an article titled “Cold Omelets with Crab Meat,” written by Pierre Franey of the New York Times News Service that was published in the August 22, 1979 edition of the Virgin Islands Daily News, a copy of which can be seen here.

Ms. Warren’s 1984 recipe for Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing is a word-for-word copy of Mr. Franey’s 1979 recipe.

Mrs. Warren’s 1984 recipe for Cold Omelets with Crab Meat contains all four of the ingredients listed in Mr. Franey’s 1979 recipe in the exact same portion but lists five additional ingredients. More significantly, her instructions are virtually a word for word copy of Mr. Franey’s instructions from this 1979 article. Both instructions specify the use of a “seven inch Teflon pan.”Will Harvard Law School Condemn Elizabeth Warren for Pow Wow Chow Plagiarism?

By Michael Patrick LeahyBreitbart reported on Friday that two of Elizabeth Warren’s recipe contributions to the 1984 Pow Wow Chow cookbook edited by her cousin included word for word copies of a 1979 article written for the New York Times News Service by famous French cook Pierre Franey. Sunday morning, attention turned to Harvard Law School, where Ms. Warren has been employed as a professor since 1992.

Plagiarism of an academic paper while employed by Harvard Law School, or while employed previously at another law school, would clearly be grounds for her dismissal under Harvard University’s code of conduct for professors. But does plagiarism of a 1984 cookbook when she was 35 years old and employed as a research associate and teacher at the University of Texas Law School constitute grounds for dismissal?

That’s the question I posed Sunday to Jack Marshall, a lawyer and nationally recognized expert on ethics. Mr. Marshall, who is the President of ProEthics, Ltd, a firm that provides Continuing Legal Education to some of the top law firms in the country, is also a 1972 graduate of Harvard College and a 1975 graduate Georgetown University Law School.And:Asked specifically this morning about the appropriate action to be taken by Harvard Law School in light of these revelations Mr. Marshall said:

“Here’s the problem. It’s awfully tough for Harvard to establish a new standard of enforcement, especially for a female professor, especially when you’ve let a whole group of men get away with plagiarism in the recent past.

“Harvard Law School should [issue a statement that publicly condemn[s] her and retroactively do a public mea culpa for past examples of plagiarism that other members of the faculty got away with. They can’t do anything other than publicly shame her, but that’s a start.”Comment:  Plagiarism is a more serious offense than anything Warren's been accused of so far. It demands at least an explanation, if not an apology.

For more on Elizabeth Warren, see Natives Question Warren's Claims and Warren's Pow Wow Chow Cookbook.