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To the list,
As Dr. Shi-min Fang’s former graduate school mentor, I would like to re-iterate my support for Dr. Fang’s prominent position in Chinese society.
I have no interest in the efforts of Dr. Fang’s political opponents to try to discredit him.
Dr. Fang completed a good quality thesis in my laboratory, awarded in 1996. He published a high quality research paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry based on his thesis work. So far as I know, his thesis work has passed the test of time, and Transcription Factor for RNA polymerase II (TFII)F still interacts with TFIIB.
If there is merit in Dr. Root-Bernstein’s accusations, I fail to see it. Dr. Fang has responded to Dr. Root-Bernstein in a reasonable and measured way.
With best regards and sincerity,
Zachary Burton, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Michigan State University
E. Lansing, MI 48824-1319
burton@cns.msu.edu
To all on list:
I am totally surprised at Dr. Burton's response to this matter, not really surprised that he has such a response, but he speaks up for Dr. Fang. Like father like son. Dr. Fang's failure to behave with integrity can be partly attributed to Dr. Burton. He is Dr. Fang's supervisor in MSU. My comments earlier at MSU's failed education would be partly an indictment of Dr. Burton, who provided much supervision of Dr. Fang at MSU. Dr. Fang had plagiarized an article with the title "student plagiarism, faculty responsibility". This is really ironic, convenient, and entertaining.
Dr. Burton points to one paper as success of Dr. Fang. No wonder Dr.Fang blatantly declared that he was the best student, not one of the best students, of Dr. Burton. While Dr. Burton can point to one publication of Dr. Fang, I can point to many of his failures to grasp the basic concept in biochemistry. If anyone on this list is interested, I can provide ample examples. Challenge me, name a number! I will satisfy you and I am not a biochemist!
Dr. Burton stood by Dr. Fang to a degree that I had firstly conceived the idea to expose the hypocrisy in American education. I had contacted Dr. Burton to verify Dr. Fang's unreasonable claims he made in public discussions, mostly how Dr. Burton viewed him as a student.That was Dr. Fang's initial effort to promote himself. Dr. Burton did not answer any of my questions directly. When I insisted on his opinion and memory, he asked me to ASK Dr. Fang! Of course Dr. Fang would give me his HONEST answer, right?
Dr. Fang has a prominent position in China, that's right. But Dr. Burton's support probably matters little there. I have exposed that source of support recently. Dr. Fang's wife was a reporter and probably hold a significant position in the State media, the Xinhua News Agency (XNA). This is the state organ for official media control and propaganda. Dr. Fang's wife Liu had plagiarized her whole master thesis. We reported it to the degree grantor and in public. Then we discovered that she had plagiarized many articles as an employee in XNA as well. Dr. Fang had been lamenting that most of the plagiarizers he had exposed were not punished for a decade. Then we discovered his wife's plagiarism, unmatched by any of the plagiarism cases exposed by Fang. Guess what? There are even no signs that she will ever be punished for her gross violation of academic integrity! There is no freedom of speech in China. Dr. Fang's ascending to this level of prominence is irrelevant to his integrity or fraud-busting activities. He was exposed as a plagiarizer almost as soon as he was establishing a reputation as fraud-buster. By the way, it is Dr, Xiao, his arch enemy who had exposed him first.
You would expect an upright person to really stand up for integrity. At least you distance yourself from evil. Dr. Fang initially claimed that he did not marry Liu yet when she plagiarized her thesis. This is an indication that he probably had an ounce of conscience there. But the last ounce quickly melted away. His wife published on his blog that she was proud of her work (Yeah, in China the unthinkable always happens, she's XNA). Dr. Fang made a public threat to all of us who contributed to expose his wife. Dr. Fang and Liu was right, Liu's thesis was discovered in the "Chinese Best Master Theses Database". Whatever force that protects and promotes Liu is the reason of Dr. Fang's prominence. Dr. Burton, please do not overestimated the importance of your support. It can be misused and amounts to nothing. Unable to take a moral stand against evil and be honest in the first place, you yourself have a credibility issue here.
I still insist the MSU has to have an official position in this matter. If MSU had acted properly, Dr. Bernstein could be spared all this unnecessary and unproductive dialogue. Dr. Fang and Dr. Burton can be defiant to Dr. Bernstein, but they are within bounds of MSU.
I'm Chinese and I'm not proud of fraud rampant China. I'm all for fraud-busting. I had defended Fang when I was duped to believe he was he had claimed to be. Be careful in selecting who you really should support.
With best regards and sincerity
Junlin Liao, Ph.D.
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