‘White Fragility’ author Robin DiAngelo accused of plagiarizing minority scholars in Ph.D thesis
By Chris Nesi,
2024-08-26
Robin DiAngelo, the author and “anti-racism consultant” who rose to fame and made a fortune scolding white people for their inherent bigotry, has been accused of ripping off the work of two Asian American scholars in her 2004 doctoral thesis.
A complaint filed with the University of Washington and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon outlines 20 examples of alleged plagiarism in the “White Fragility” author’s dissertation, “Whiteness in Racial Dialogue: A Discourse Analysis.”
Robin DiAngelo, author of 2018’s “White Fragility” — which became a massive success in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd. NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Among the examples cited are two paragraphs reproduced almost entirely from Northeastern University’s Thomas Nakayama — who is Asian-American — and coauthor Robert Krizek, in which DiAngelo fails to provide adequate attribution.
Another example in the complaint shows DiAngelo allegedly playing fast and loose with a paragraph written by Asian-American professor Stacey Lee of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In it, rather than clearly delineating that Lee had summarized the work of scholar David Theo Goldberg, the information was presented in such a way to appear as though DiAngelo herself was providing the summary herself.
National Association of Scholars President Peter Wood told the Beacon that such a move in academic circles is tantamount to “forgery.”
“It is never appropriate to use the secondary source without acknowledging it, and even worse to present it as one’s own words,” said the ex-Boston University provost. “That’s plagiarism.”
On her own website’s “ accountability statement ,” DiAngelo goes into great detail about how she claims to hold herself accountable in a variety of different contexts when it comes to her business and personal dealings with nonwhites.
“Always cite and give credit to the work of BIPOC [black, indigenous and people of color] people who have informed your thinking,” she writes in a section explicitly about how to properly provide academic citation.
Her controversial 2018 book sold more than 750,000 copies and helped her rake in even more money hosting “anti-racist” seminars costing as much as $40,000 a head. Beacon Press
“When you use a phrase or idea you got from a BIPOC person, credit them.”
As the Beacon points out, DiAngelo’s status as a doctor and her Ph.D in multicultural education have been key to promoting her book, her high-dollar speaking engagements and her therapeutic seminars where attendees pay up to $40,000 a head to hear all about how racist they are.
She’s often formally referred to either as “Dr. Robin DiAngelo” or “Robin DiAngelo, PhD” in marketing materials, including the header of her own website, where she claims to have coined the term “white fragility” in a 2011 academic article.
The allegations against DiAngelo follow a rash of recent similar accusations raised in the highest levels of American academia.
DiAngelo’s controversial “White Fragility” was barely noticed upon publication in 2018, but became a New York Times best-seller in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020. During that time, DiAngelo made regular TV appearances and hosted frequent paid speaking gigs.
As popular as the book became when the national spotlight was squarely fixed on issues of race, it had plenty of critics. Journalist and author Matt Taibbi called it “pseudo-intellectual horsesh–,” and linguist John McWhorter said the book amounted to “a racist tract” in an article for The Atlantic.
DiAngelo did not respond to The Post’s request for comment sent through her website contact form.
Asked about the veracity of the complaint, University of Washington spokeswoman Dana Robinson Slote told The Post, “We are committed to the integrity of research conducted at the University of Washington. All complaints are carefully reviewed.”
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