Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 11, 1994                   TAG: 9405110125
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK and KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TECH STUDENT ALLEGES PLAGIARISM

H.D. Flowers II, who resigned from Tech earlier this year after pleading guilty to embezzlement, is the professor named in the lawsuit.

Tech student Maurice Terrell Braxton claimed that after Flowers gave him a "B" on his paper in 1991, the professor included large parts of it in a book he published the next year.

Braxton did not give permission for his work to be used, the suit states, nor did he receive any credit in the book.

Copies of Braxton's paper and segments of Flowers' book, filed with the lawsuit, contain similarities.

The first paragraph of Braxton's paper, "The Criminal Justice System: One Black, One White, Separate and Still Unequal" appears slightly paraphrased on page 20 of Flowers' book, "Survey of Black Studies; Their Concerns from a Historical Perspective."

The rest of Braxton's eight-page paper follows, almost verbatim.

Braxton's lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, seeks:

At least $100,000 in damages.

A court order that would prevent future sales of Flowers' book, which can be bought for $28.95 at the Virginia Tech Bookstore.

A court order requiring Flowers to "deliver for destruction" all copies of the book.

In February, Flowers pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Circuit Court to three counts of embezzlement by cashing paychecks made out to people scheduled to teach classes that Flowers himself ended up teaching.

He was placed on probation and ordered to pay back more than $15,000 taken in the scheme.

In a brief statement made at the time of his conviction, Flowers apologized for the incident and said it happened "due to my being overworked and understaffed."

Flowers, 49, was head of Tech's black studies program and a professor in the theater arts department. He was removed as head of the black studies program before charges were placed against him last year but continued to teach until March 31.

Flowers had his attorney, Ray Hartley, return a reporter's phone call Tuesday. Hartley said he and Flowers had been aware of Braxton's claim for some time but did not know a lawsuit had been filed.

Hartley declined comment until he receives a copy of the document. Braxton could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Larry Hincker, a Tech spokesman, said university administrators learned of the allegation when the student came forward while Flowers was being investigated on the embezzlement charges.

"By the time it came to our attention, it was a moot point ... [Flowers] had tendered his resignation," Hincker said.

Faculty members are held to the same anti-plagiarism policy students are expected to observe, Hincker said, and allegations are taken seriously.

"It's certainly something that we could have acted on," Hincker said, and the university likely would have taken some action had Flowers not already resigned.