The Empire Strikes Back: Angela Henderson Unleashes the Imperial Walkers

Apparently Angela Henderson is fighting back by suing the University of Illinois at Chicago for "illegally disclos[ing] to Tribune reporter Jodi S. Cohen that a third party filed a complaint with UIC regarding her dissertation." Here's the text of the article from the Chicago Tribune:


By Michelle Manchir Tribune reporter

9:33 p.m. CDT, July 21, 2014

A high-ranking administrator at Chicago State University is suing University of Illinois at Chicago officials after a Chicago Tribune story earlier this year about her dissertation, alleging people at the school illegally disclosed private facts about academic matters, among other allegations.

Angela Henderson, the interim provost and senior vice president at Chicago State University, says a vice chancellor and a dean at UIC illegally disclosed to Tribune reporter Jodi S. Cohen that a third party filed a complaint with UIC regarding her dissertation, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County court.

Henderson, who in 2013 was enrolled in the doctoral nursing program at UIC and received her doctoral degree, said she had been unaware UIC had concerns about her dissertation until she read the front-page Jan. 14 Chicago Tribune story that details allegations of plagiarism within it.

Henderson has denied any allegations that she plagiarized her dissertation, which is titled “Predicting Consistent Condom Use Behavior In African-American, Heterosexual Males Aged 18-25 Who Are Enrolled In Community College,” according to the suit.

According to the suit, UIC Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost Lon Kaufman and Dean of Graduate College Karen Colley caused a review of Henderson’s dissertation and violated the school’s own rules in terms of failing to notify students of concerns about their work.

“The first thing that defendants Kaufman and Colley should have done was to tell Ms. Henderson that there were concerns about her dissertation,” the lawsuit says.

Michael Leonard, Henderson’s attorney, said Monday the plagiarism allegations stem from Henderson improperly using quotation marks to cite other authors’ works.

Henderson cited sources properly, but the dissertation’s use of quotation marks “wasn’t perfect,” Leonard said when reached by phone Monday night.

According to the suit, a UIC graduate college committee recommended in January 2013 that Henderson revise her dissertation.

“In other words, to the extent there were unintentional errors in Ms. Henderson’s dissertation, including the lack of quotation marks, she was requested to fix them,” the suit says.

The suit also alleges that, between January and July of this year, Henderson contacted several UIC senior officials to address concerns regarding her dissertation but that she was “largely ignored.”

The suit seeks compensation for damages including loss of a good name, loss of reputation, shame, interference with Henderson’s career and emotional distress. The suit seeks a jury trial.

Bill Burton, a spokesman for UIC, said Monday night that the university has a policy to not comment on matters in litigation.



Just as a reminder, here are two passages selected from Henderson's dissertation (pp. 13-14) and presented side-by side with the journal article from which the material is taken. This particular article is not included in Henderson's bibliography.

Compare these passages with the claims detailed in the report.